ABSTRACT
With the signing of the Okinawa Reversion Treaty completed on June 17, 1971, done through a simultaneous signing ceremony through satellite hookup for the first time ever, the next step procedurally would be to seek its ratification in the Japanese Parliament and U.S. Senate while moving forward with the specific reversion arrangements. Criticism of the handling of the Senkakus issue-from all sides-would continue until the actual reversion of Okinawa a year later, however. This chapter explores the ratification process and the domestic and regional reactions to the decision to include the Senkakus in the agreement. Within Japan, criticism was not only directed at Taiwanese and mainland Chinese claims to the islands, but also directed at the United States for taking a neutral, inconsistent, and convenient approach to the symbolic sovereignty issue. Regionally speaking, both Taiwan (ROC) and the People’s Republic of China (PRC) increased the frequency and degree of its claims to the Senkakus, in part to challenge those of Japan, but also partly in competition with each other over who legitimately represented the Chinese people.
