Senkaku or Diaoyou Islands?
Shintaro Ishihara, the much beloved governor of Tokyo, has managed to raise 76 million yen in just five days since launching his crusade to purchase the Senkaku Islands. These donations have come from around 5,500 people across Japan and work out at about a million US dollars. Ishihara’s plan, however, is likely to provoke an international and regional storm as many believe the islands are not Japan’s to sell or buy.
An alternative title for this article could have been “A Game of Rocks,” but that was buying a little too much into a popular TV show. It is, however, quite apt when you think about it. The history of the Senkaku Islands are not long, but they are murky. It is this lack of clarity and agreement that have caused the problems. It is far less clear than other territorial disputes such as the Falkland Islands. It is also one of several island-based disputes involving Japan. The others being the Liancourt Rocks (Takeshima/Dokdo) and the South Kuril Islands (Chishima Retto).
The Senkaku Islands a group of islands north of Ishigaki Island in the Yaeyama archipelago south of Okinawa, and east of Taiwan. The Yaeyamas are a beautiful range of islands with their own culture and language. They had, however, little to do with the Senkaku Islands, which are so remote they would require courier international services to communicate. Geographically speaking, the Senkakus are a group of five islands named Uotsuri (Diaoyu), Kuba (Huangwei), Taisho (Chiwei), Minami Kojima (Nan Xiaodao), Kita Kojima (Bei Xiaodao) and three rocks. They are currently uninhabited by humans, but are home to some rare species such as the Okinawa-kuro-oo-ari ant, short-tailed albatross and the Senkaku mole.
Legal disputes arose in 1951 with the nullification of the Treaty of Shimonoseki and the signing of the Treaty of San Francisco between Japan and the Allied Powers. The treaty states that Japan relinquishes control of territories that are not historically part of Japan. Though it did allow Japan to keep the Ryukyu and Yaeyama Islands, which were not historically part of Japan until the 19th century.
Taiwan and China, the latter claiming the islands on behalf of a Greater China, believe they were only signed over by the Treaty of Shimonoseki as part of the territory of Formosa (Taiwan) and should therefore be returned. This is where it gets very Japanese and murky. In 1885 Okinawa’s Governor, Nishimura Sutezo, suggested they take the islands, but Foreign Minister Inoue Kaoru argued they must be Chinese as they had Chinese names and had been claimed in a Chinese newspaper. When at war with China during the First Sino-Japanese War they decided as there were no settlements on the island, they could be termed uninhabited and therefore uncontrolled.
Since then, one of the islands was used as a bonito canning factory until the company went bust in 1940. After that, the islands have been rented by the Ministry of Defence and the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications from the owners of the business, the Koga family. They have been administered by the Ishigaki Island government, patrolled by the coastguard, but no one is allowed to set foot on the islands. The reason for this is unknown.
This brings us back to Ishihara’s plan. Under Japanese law, the islands are owned by the Koga family who now live in Saitama. He has been told that if he can raise 200 million yen by the end of the year, he can purchase the islands on behalf of Tokyo. This would make Tokyo the biggest prefecture in terms of distance between its constituent parts. In order to finalise the agreement, Japanese law states that the metropolitan assembly must approve the purchase as the islands are larger than 20,000 square meters in size.
While Ishihara’s move seems to have the approval of Japanese Prime Minister, Yoshihiko Noda, experts are warning that the Mayor’s moves can only inflame tensions over the territory. China and Taiwan have already criticised the move. A Foreign Ministry spokesman said that “the Diaoyou Islands have been China’s inherent territory since ancient times.”
Regardless of who buys the land, the ownership of the islands will not be decided until the three nations make an actual agreement.
Imogen Reed is a full-time professional writer and researcher.
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