Tensions in the East China Sea: Stephen Hoadley reviews the China-Taiwan-Japan disputes over islands in the East China Sea and explores avenues for their mitigation.

• Author: Hoadley, Stephen
• Position: Report

The Diaoyutai Islands have become the focus of intense rivalry between Japan, China and Taiwan in recent years. This is driven by recognition of potential economic benefits arising from the Law of the Sea, which entitles the owner to the fish, hydrocarbons and minerals within the Exclusive Economic Zone that surrounds them. Nationalist sentiment has inflamed the competition. A number of avenues for mitigation of this threatening situation exist. These include international adjudication, joint resource development agreements, and a code of conduct. The Republic of China (Taiwan)'s East China Sea Peace Initiative is a promising template for minimising armed conflict and promoting maritime co-operation.

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Much has been written about Chinas disputes with its neighbours in the South China Sea, including in this journal. (1) But the East China Sea dispute with Japan has greater potential for armed dashes and, in the worst case, inducing an East Asian arms race. After reviewing the origins of the dispute and the motives of the parties involved, this article identifies initiatives that could mitigate the conflict, with particular focus on the role played by the Republic of China (Taiwan).

The focus of the East China Sea dispute centres on five small islands and three rocks lying between Okinawa and Taiwan. With a total area of less than 7 square kilometres, these eight entities are uninhabited and provide little shelter for people or ships. Nevertheless, they are significant inasmuch as the 1982 Law of the Sea entitles their owner to the fish, hydrocarbons, and minerals lying within the islands' 200 nautical mile Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). Less tangibly but more potently, they have become symbols of sovereignty, arousing thinly veiled nationalist passions in both China and Japan, revisiting the centuries-old rivalry between these two powers. The issue is further complicated by the fact that the Republic of China on Taiwan is a third claimant, and has become a significant party in the East China Sea dispute.

Both China and Taiwan base their claim on discovery and usage, asserting that Ming Dynasty China gave them their present name--Diaoyutai--in the 15th century, noting in documents that the islands were used by Chinese fishermen and as navigation objects for traffic between Taiwan and the Ryukyu Kingdom (now Okinawa). After Taiwan was officially incorporated into Ching Dynasty China in the 17th (1683) century, the Diaoyutai Islands came under the administration of Kavalan County, Taiwan. (2)

Japan, however, claims that in the late 19th century the islands were terra nullius. The Meiji government formally annexed them in a Cabinet decision of 14 January 1895. Japan's victory four months later in the Sino-Japanese War obliged the Ching Dynasty in the Treaty of Shimonoseki to cede Taiwan, whereupon the Diaoyutai Islands, called Senkaku Islands by Japan, were placed under Okinawa's administrative jurisdiction.

Japan's retention

In accordance with the Cairo Declaration of 1943, Japan's defeat in 1945 led to the annulment of the Treaty of Shimonoseki and the return of Taiwan to the Republic of China. However, the Allies were unaware that the Senkaku Islands were in fact the Diaoyutai Islands and in accordance with the San Francisco Peace Treaty of 1952 the United States administered them as part of Okinawa until 1971, when Okinawa was returned to Japanese control. The current US position is that in accordance with the US...