The Relationship Between Natural Resources and Violent Conflict

Diaoyu Islands Territorial Disputes
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Institution
Diaoyu Islands Territorial Disputes
Diaoyu islands are a group of islands that have no habitation located in the East China Sea. The islands are approximately east of China, due northeast of Taiwan and border the Japanese island of Okinawa to the west. Diaoyu islands are disputed by China, Japan, and Taiwan and are referred by different names in those nations. China knows them as Diaoyu Islands and Japan as Senkaku islands. This dispute, however, is heavily centered on China and Japan with the islands being under the administrative control of Japan. The islands total eight in number and cover an area totaling 7 km2. The reason why the islands matter is their strategic importance. They are close to major shipping lanes, they are surrounded by rich fishing grounds and also near oil and gas potential reserves. For the Chinese, the islands are also important in curbing the United States military supremacy in the Asia-Pacific region (BBC 2014).[Lee, Joyman. 2011. Senkaku/Diaoyu: Islands of Conflict. May 5. Accessed 2017. /joyman-lee/senkakudiaoyu-islands-conflict.] [BBC. 2014. How uninhabited islands soured China-Japan ties. November 10. Accessed 2017. /news/world-asia-pacific-11341139.]
The beginning of the conflicts can be traced back to 1897 with the annexation of Okinawa by the Japanese government. This made the Diaoyu islands the natural border between Japan and China. However, the newly created prefecture of Okinawa petitioned the government, Meiji government, for permission to take control of the islands. The request was turned down because several ministers had pointed out the potential conflict the act would bring with the Chinese. In the first Sino-Japanese war, Japan took control of the islands and placed them under Okinawa administration. This they said was because their survey had shown the Qing empire, which ruled China at the time, did not have control of the islands. After the war in which China lost, a treaty between the two countries was signed giving Japan control of Taiwan and the islands surrounding it. This treaty is called the treaty of Shimonoseki. This control continued until the end of world war two. After Japan surrendered in world war two, Japan agreed to cede all control of Taiwan and the surrounding islands in a treaty called the treaty of San Francisco. What both treaties failed to specify was whether Diaoyu islands were part of the islands surrounding Taiwan and therefore included in the treaty or not.[Suganuma, Unryu. 2000. In Sovereign Rights and Territorial Space in Sino-Japanese Relations, by Unryu Suganuma, 89-97. University of Hawaii Press.] [Ng, Yuzin Chiautong. 1972. Historical and legal aspects of the international status of Taiwan (Formosa). Tokyo: World United Formosans for Independence.] [Price, John. 2001. A Just Peace? The 1951 San Francisco Peace Treaty in Historical Perspective. June. /publications/workingpapers/wp78.html.]
Meanwhile, the treaty of San Francisco gave the United States administrative powers over Ryukyu islands which included the disputed islands. With Ryukyu islands being Japanese, when the United States relinquished control of them in 1972, Japan took over. It is worth noting that before 1972, neither China nor Taiwan had made their dispute of Japanese sovereignty over the islands' official and therefore public. Their Japanese name was referring the islands, and it was understood to be part of Japan. It was only after the handover of the Ryukyu islands to Japan by the United States that China began making public their claim to the islands. This was through the use of documents such as before-seen maps, a communique between Japanese officials in 1895 that prompted a denial of Okinawa’s request to administer the island through the erection of national markers, the Potsdam declaration and a formal protest by China of the United States transfer of control of the islands to Japan. According to the Chinese, the islands have historically been part of China. The Chinese point out that when they ceded Taiwan and the surrounding islands, it did include Diaoyu. The purchase of the islands by the Koga family had no bearing on the status of the islands. The Japanese on their part state that the islands were not habited and as such there was no evidence of Chinese control. They were not part of the islands that China ceded under the treaty of Shimonoseki. They show a fishing approval by the Meiji government granted to a resident in 1896 as further proof of their ownership. The Japanese also claim that the reason China and Taiwan started claiming ownership is a 1969 United Nations report on the presence of large deposits of oil and gas.[Durdin, Tillman. 1972. Archives: Okinawa Islands Returned by U.S. to Japanese Rule. May 15. Accessed 2017. /1972/05/15/archives/okinawa-islands-returned-by-us-to-japanese-rule-agnew-in-to...