ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the negotiations over the Okinawa Reversion Treaty, which officially began in 1970 and was concluded in June 1971. It first reviews the decision to return the Ryukyu Islands before examining in detail the aforementioned negotiations as they related to the Senkaku Islands. It focuses on how the United States government assessed and handled the respective claims, counterclaims, and other pressures placed on it by the governments of its two allies, Japan and the Republic of China (ROC), with regard to the status of the Senkakus against the backdrop of the eventual (yet still-then secret) intention of the Richard M. Nixon administration to normalize relations with the People’s Republic of China (PRC). It also looks at GOJ-ROC discussion on the issue and the eventual unsuccessful efforts by the USG to promote a dialogue between those two disputants in the hopes that a resolution would be found.
