ABSTRACT

This book examines the foreign and security policies adopted by China and Japan since the 1970s in their competition over the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands in the East China Sea.  It charts the development of a dispute that has become a potential flashpoint for conflict between the two countries. The book explains that while increasing nationalism in both China and Japan helps to fuel and sustain the dispute, a key factor is that the leaderships in both countries find competition over the islands to be a convenient vehicle supporting their wider approach to foreign and security policy, which is becoming increasingly assertive and potentially belligerent.

chapter 1|26 pages

Contested territory

chapter 4|29 pages

The Cold War phase of the dispute

chapter 5|24 pages

The post-Cold War phase of the dispute

chapter 6|10 pages

Symbolic value of the islands

chapter 7|6 pages

Conclusion