ABSTRACT
Disagreements between the People's Republic of China (PRC), Japan and the Republic of China (ROC) in Taiwan regarding their competing claims to sovereignty over the group of islands in the East China Sea start from the territory's very name. The complicated and painful past that China and Japan share is a fundamental factor for understanding mutual suspicions underpinning bilateral interactions at both official and popular levels. China challenges Japan's administrative control alongside sovereignty rights over the territory and adjacent waters. The PRC states that the 'Diaoyu Islands' are China's inherent territory according to irrefutable historical, geographical and legal evidence. From the standpoint of international law, the historical evidence that PRC and ROC bring to their claim to sovereignty over the islands is problematic. Acquiescence prior to 1970 is one of the main legal and historical weaknesses in both the ROC and the PRC's claims to the islands.
