ABSTRACT
This chapter assesses the historical roots and significance of ongoing territorial disputes between Japan and Korea over Dokdo/Takeshima and between Japan and China over Senkakus/Diaoyutai. The islands are minuscule, but the disputes are protracted, rooted in the postwar settlement of the San Francisco Treaty dictated by the United States and have far-reaching implications for access to oil, fishing and territorial rights defined by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.
