User:Qwyrxian/SI dispute reorg

The purpose of this page is to begin re-organizing the Senkaku Islands dispute page, to 1) get rid off all uncited info and 2) ideally, organize the information by topic, rather than by POV.

The dispute
The dispute over ownership of the islands arose during the beginning of the 1970s, as the United States was planning to turn over control of the Ryukyu Islands to Japan. The United States had held control of the Ryukyu and Bonin Islands as a result of Article 3 of the San Francisco Peace Treaty. The United States handed over control of the Senkaku Islands along with the Ryukyu and Bonin Islands in 1972. However, between 1970 and 1972, both the People's Republic of China and the Republic of China (Taiwan) had begun asserting that the islands were, in fact, a part of Chinese territory since at least the 16th century. They contend that the United States could not have reverted control of the Senkaku Islands to Japan, because those islands were explicitly covered by the portion of the San Fracisco Peace Treaty which nullified the earlier Treaty of Shimonoseki. Japan, on the other hand, argues that the islands have been a part of Japanese territory since 1895, prior to which they were terra nullius.

13th through 19th century
PRC and ROC hold that the islands have been known to China at least since 1372, had been repeatedly referred to as part of Chinese territory since 1534, and later controlled by the Qing Dynasty along with Taiwan. The earliest written record of Diaoyutai dates back to 1403 in a Chinese book Voyage with the Tail Wind (zh:順風相送), which recorded the names of the islands that voyagers had passed on a trip from Fujian to the Ryukyu Kingdom. By 1534, all the major islets of the island group were identified and named in the book Record of the Imperial Envoy's Visit to Ryukyu  (使琉球錄). and were the Ming Dynasty (the 16th century) 's sea-defense frontier. In that book, one of the islands, Chihweiyu, marked the boundary of the Ryukyu Islands. This is viewed by the ROC and PRC as meaning that these islands did not belong to the Ryukyu Islands. Further, they state that the first reference to these islands in Japanese government documents did not occur until 1884.

Japan holds that prior to the Japanese declaring ownership of the islands in 1895, the islands were unoccupied and under the control of no government. The first formal mention of the islands in Japanese government documents occurred in 1885, when the Japanese Governor of Okinawa Prefecture, Nishimura Sutezo, petitioned the Meiji government to take formal control of the Senkaku Islands. However, Inoue Kaoru, the Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs, commented that the islands lay near to the border area with the Qing empire and that they had been given Chinese names. He also cited an article in a Chinese newspaper that had previously claimed that Japan was occupying islands off China's coast. Inoue was concerned that if Japan proceeded to erect a landmark stating its claim to the islands, it would make the Qing empire suspicious. Following Inoue's advice, Yamagata Aritomo, the Minister of the Interior turned down the request to incorporate the islands, insisting that this matter should not be "revealed to the news media". Following that time, Japan conducted surveys of the islands, and in 1895, decided that there they showed no trace of having been under the control of other countries. As such, Japan declared the islands terra nullius, and then proceeded, on 14 Janauary 1895, to incorporate them under the administration of Okinawa. China, however, argues that the earlier letter from the Minister of the Interior is an indication that Japan had not considered the islands terra nullius in 1885.

First and Second Sino-Japanese Wars
From 1894 to 1895, Meiji Japan and Qing Dynasty China fought the First Sino-Japanese War. The war ended with the signing of the Treaty of Shimonoseki. This treaty stipulated that, among other things, China would cede to Japan "the island of Formosa together with all islands appertaining or belonging to said island of Formosa (Taiwan)". Although the Treaty did not specifically name every ceded island, the ROC and PRC argue that Japan did not include the Senkaku islands as part of Okinawa Prefecture prior to 1894, and that the eventual inclusion occurred only as a consequence of China's cession of Taiwan and the Pescadores to Japan after the Sino-Japanese War.

The treaty, however, was nullified after Japan lost the Second world war in 1945 by the Treaty of San Francisco, which was signed between Japan and part of the Allied Powers in 1951. According to the Treaty of San Francisco, which The Potsdam Declaration stated that "Japanese sovereignty shall be limited to the islands of Honshū, Hokkaidō, Kyūshū, Shikoku and such minor islands as we determine", and "we" referred to the victors of WWII who met at Potsdam, the USA, UK and Republic of China. Japan accepted the terms of the Declaration when it surrendered.

There is a disagreement between the Japanese, PRC (China) and ROC (Taiwan) governments as to whether the Senkaku Islands are implied to be part of the "islands appertaining or belonging to said island of Formosa" in the Treaty of Shimonoseki. The Japanese government argues that the disputed islands were terra nullius when Japan claimed them in the 1890s, while China and Taiwan dispute this based on the letter from  Yamagata Aritomo's declining the request to incorporate the islands in 1885.

Post World War II
Article 3 of the Treaty of San Francisco placed the Bonin Islands and the Ryukyu Islands, under U.S. trusteeship. In 1969 U.S.-Japan negotiations authorized the transfer of authority over the Ryūkyūs to Japan to be implemented in 1972. In 1972, the United States reverted control of the Ryūkyūs to Japan. Japan argues that the Senkaku Islands were included in the Both the People's Republic of China and the Republic of China, argue that this agreement to return control, but both ROC and PRC reject this claim.

Cartographical evidence
Both sides argue that historical maps provide evidence supporting their claims of ownership.

China asserts that the fact that earliest known maps of the islands are Chinese is evidence that the islands belong to China. Furthermore, they hold that since a map compiled by a Japanese cartographer in the 18th century indicated the islands belonged to China, that Japan at that time recognized Chinese ownership of the islands.

Conversely, Japan points to several maps published by China in the post-war period as being evidence that China considered Japan to be the owner of the islands prior to the 1970s. For example, A world atlas published in November 1958, by the Map Publishing Company of Beijing, treats the Senkaku Islands as a Japanese territory. A state-prescribed textbook published in 1970 in Taiwan treated the islands as Japanese territories. Additionally, a World Atlas published in October 1965 by the National Defense Research Academy and the China Geological Research Institute of Taiwan records the Diaoyu Islands with Japanese names: Gyochojima (Diaoyu Islands), Taishojima (Chiwei Island), and Senkaku Gunto. In the late 1970s, the government of ROC began to recall these books, but it was too late. Finally, the Washington Times claimed that they obtained a classified map made by the PRC's map authority in 1969 apparently listing the "Senkaku Islands" as Japanese territory.

Chinese statements prior to 1970
Japan holds that China's claims of ownership of the Senkaku Islands arose only after a submarine oil field was discovered near these islands. Japan points to a number of statements by the Chinese government and organizations close to it in support of this claim.

The earliest evidence Japan points to is a letter purportedly sent to Japanese fishermen by the Chinese Consul Feng Mien (冯冕/馮冕) in Nagasaki on behalf of the Republic of China (中華民國) in response to the rescue of a Chinese were rescued from a shipwreck in 1920. In the letter, written on May 20, 1921, reference was made to "Senkaku Islands, Yaeyama District, Okinawa Prefecture, the Empire of Japan". The letter is on exhibition at Yaeyama museum.

For post-war evidence, Japan points to an article written in The People's Daily, a daily newspaper which is the organ of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC). This article described the Senkaku Islands as being a part of the Ryukyu Islands (Japanese territory). ; [http://translate.google.com/translate_t?q=%E8%98%BF%E8%94%94%E9%A0%AD&hl=en&num=100&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wT#ja%7cen%7c%E3%80%8C%E4%BA%BA%E6%B0%91%E6%97%A5%E5%A0%B1%E3%80%8D%E3%81%8C%E7%B1%B3%E8%BB%8D%E8%BB%8D%E6%94%BF%E4%B8%8B%E3%81%AE%E6%B2%96%E7%B8%84%E3%81%AE%E5%B0%96%E9%96%A3%E8%AB%B8%E5%B3%B6%EF%BC%88%E5%BD%93%E6%99%82%E3%81%AE%E4%B8%AD%E5%9B%BD%E3%81%AE%E5%91%BC%E3%81%B3%E6%96%B9%E3%81%AE%E3%81%BE%E3%81%BE.%20%E7%8F%BE%E5%9C%A8%E4%B8%AD%E5%9B%BD%E3%81%AF%E3%80%8C%E9%87%A3%E9%AD%9A%E5%B3%B6%E3%80%8D%E3%81%A8%E3%81%84%E3%81%86%EF%BC%89%E3%81%A7%E6%97%A5%E6%9C%AC%E4%BA%BA%E6%B0%91%E3%81%AE%E7%B1%B3%E8%BB%8D%E3%81%AE%E8%BB%8D%E4%BA%8B%E6%BC%94%E7%BF%92%E3%81%AB%E5%8F%8D%E5%AF%BE%E3%81%99%E3%82%8B%E9%97%98%E4%BA%89%E3%81%8C%E8%A1%8C%E3%82%8F%E3%82%8C%E3%81%A6%E3%81%84%E3%82%8B%E3%81%A8%E5%A0%B1%E9%81%93.%20%E3%80%8C%E7%90%89%E7%90%83%E8%AB%B8%E5%B3%B6%E3%81%AF%E3%82%8F%E3%81%8C%E5%9B%BD%E5%8F%B0%E6%B9%BE%E3%81%AE%E6%9D%B1%E5%8C%97%E3%81%8A%E3%82%88%E3%81%B3%E6%97%A5%E6%9C%AC%E4%B9%9D%E5%B7%9E%E5%B3%B6%E3%81%AE%E8%A5%BF%E5%8D%97%E3%81%AE%E9%96%93%E3%81%AE%E6%B5%B7%E4%B8%8A%E3%81%AB%E6%95%A3%E5%9C%A8%E3%81%97%E3%80%81%E5%B0%96%E9%96%A3%E8%AB%B8%E5%B3%B6%E3%80%81%E5%85%88%E5%B3%B6%E8%AB%B8%E5%B3%B6%E3%80%81%E5%A4%A7%E6%9D%B1%E8%AB%B8%E5%B3%B6%E3%80%81%E6%B2%96%E7%B8%84%E8%AB%B8%E5%B3%B6%E3%80%81%E5%A4%A7%E5%B3%B6%E8%AB%B8%E5%B3%B6%E3%80%81%E5%90%90%E5%99%B6%E5%96%87%E8%AB%B8%E5%B3%B6%E3%80%81%E5%A4%A7%E9%9A%85%E8%AB%B8%E5%B3%B6%E3%81%AA%E3%81%A97%E3%81%A4%E3%81%AE%E5%B3%B6%E5%B6%BC%E3%81%8B%E3%82%89%E3%81%AA%E3%81%A3%E3%81%A6%E3%81%84%E3%82%8B%E3%80%8D%E3%81%A8%E7%B4%B9%E4%BB%8B%EF%BC%88%E6%96%B0%E8%8F%AF%E6%9C%88%E5%A0%B1%EF%BC%9A1953-7) read Google Chinese-English translation]

Additionally, during a private visit 9 years after stepping down from office, former President of Republic of China, Lee Teng-hui, once said that the Senkaku Islands are part of Okinawa.