ABSTRACT

The dispute over sovereignty of the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands is structured around economic interests, domestic political compulsions, issues surrounding national identity and allegiance, requirements of international law and the long-standing baggage of historical grievances. The Senkaku Islands are located in the East China Sea, northeast of Taiwan, east of the Chinese mainland and southwest of Japan's southernmost Okinawa prefecture. When Japan defeated China in the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, the peace treaty specified that Japan would gain control of Taiwan and all of its contiguous islands, including the Senkakus. Japan has contended that nobody lived there until the early Meiji period and argues that upon being defeated in the Sino-Japanese War, China ceded Taiwan to Japan under Article 11 of the Treaty of Shimonoseki. While removing the main source of friction between Taiwan and Japan, it potentially creates a variety of problems for mainland China's government, which fears both diplomatic isolation on territorial issues and a revival of Taiwan's diplomatic status.