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Hot Rocks
Asia's most
controversial islands.
BY JOSHUA E. KEATING |
NOVEMBER 3, 2010
SENKAKU/DIAOYU/DIAOYUTAI
Location: Northeast of Taiwan in the East China Sea
Claimed by: Japan, China, Taiwan
The dispute: Diaoyu means "fishing platform"
in Chinese, and there are records of these small rocks in
Chinese navigation documents as far back as the 15th century.
Japan's legal claim on the islands dates to 1895 (though some documents say it
was earlier), when Taiwan and its surrounding islets were ceded to Japan at the
end of the Sino-Japanese War. Tokyo formally incorporated them into Japanese
territory shortly afterward.
After World War II,
however, Japan ceded Taiwan and the Paracels (see below) back to China. And
because Diaoyu was traditionally part of Taiwanese territory, the government in
Taipei believes it has claim to the islands. Complicating matters further,
because Beijing views Taiwan as part of Chinese territory, it also claims the
islands. However, in 1970, the United States and Japan signed a treaty
reverting occupied Okinawa back to Japanese control which, unlike the treaty
signed after World War II, explicitly mentioned Senkaku as Japanese territory.
Japan cites this bilateral agreement as legal backing for its claim.
The dispute would be
little more than a historical curiosity if not for the sizable gas deposits
believed to be located near the islands.
The territorial
dispute has flared ever since with Japan expelling Chinese fishing boats from
the region and Japanese nationalists traveling to the island to build a
lighthouse in 1990. And in September, the dispute once again came to a head
when a Chinese fishing boat captain was arrested after colliding with a
Japanese warship, prompting the bitterest Sino-Japanese diplomatic standoff in decades.
DOKDO/TAKESHIMA/LIANCOURT
ROCKS
Location: In the Japan Sea, about 117 miles east of
the Korean coast
Claimed by: South Korea, Japan
The dispute: Known as the Liancourt Rocks to Westerners, this group of
volcanic islets is known as Dokdo or "Lonely islands" in Korean and
Takeshima, or "Bamboo islands" in Japanese. There are only two permanent residents on the islands --
an elderly Korean fisherman and his wife whose presence is
described by Tokyo as an "illegal occupation." Nonetheless,
Liancourt's symbolic importance and potentially rich energy deposits have made
the islands a flashpoint in Japanese-Korean relations for more than half a century.
The islands were part
of Korean territory annexed by Japanese forces during their conquest of the
Korean peninsula in 1905. Japan lost control of Korean territory after World
War II, and Seoul has stationed Korean Coast Guard troops around the islands
since the 1950s as a symbol of ownership. Naval standoffs have been
increasingly frequent in recent years, though air and naval forces have stopped
short of firing at each other. Japan has so far rejected a 60-year-old proposal
by Seoul to refer the matter to the International Court of Justice for
resolution.
The nationalist
passions the islands provoke can sometimes be extreme. In 2005, when the
Japanese prefecture of Shimane declared a "Takeshima Day" holiday, a
South Korean mother and son sliced off their fingers in protest in front of the
Japanese Embassy in Seoul.
THE KURILS
Location: Stretching from Japan's Hokkaido Island to
Russia's Kamchatka peninsula
Claimed by: Russia, Japan
The dispute: Fifty years after the conclusion of World
War II, Japan and Russia have still never
signed a peace treaty, the obstacle being the four southernmost Kuril
Islands, which Japan calls its "northern territories." Russia and
China fought over the Kurils as far back as the 1700s, when fur-trappers and
fishermen began to explore the region. In 1875, Russia agreed to hand over the
Kurils to Japan in exchange for control of the much larger Sakhalin Island, which
lies closer to the Russian mainland.
But Japan won control
of half of Sakhalin during the 1904 Russo-Japanese war, which Russia claims
nullifies the original treaty. In the treaty of San Francisco that Japan signed
with the Allies in 1951, Tokyo gave up its claim to the Kurils. But the treaty
refused to recognize Soviet control of the islands, which led Stalin's
negotiators to withdraw from the conference. The international agreement didn't
stop the Soviets from taking control and an estimated 17,000 Japanese were
expelled from the islands when the Soviets invaded. Russia has encouraged
citizens to move to the islands because of its rich fishing and mineral wealth,
and nearly 17,000 Russian and indigenous people live there today. The
ownership of the Kurils has remained unresolved ever since.
Tensions were
reignited in recent weeks when Russian President Dmitry Medvedev visited the islands, prompting an angry Japanese
government to temporarily withdraw its ambassador from Moscow in protest.
THE PARACEL ISLANDS
Location: Roughly equidistant from Vietnam and China
in the South China Sea
Claimed by: China, Vietnam
The dispute: This chain of about 30 islets and reefs in
the South China Sea hasbeen one of the main points of contention between two
erstwhile Cold War allies. There's evidence
of Chinese habitation on the islands as far back as the eighth
century Tan dynasty, though today it is occupied only by Chinese military
personnel. The cluster of small rock islands and reefs was claimed by France as
part of French Indochina in 1887 over strong Chinese protests.
In 1956, with the
support of the Communist North Vietnamese government, Beijing declared its
sovereignty over the islands, though this claim was largely moot as the South
Vietnamese government continued to maintain a small military presence there.
Things came to a head during 1974's "Battle
of the Paracels," when South Vietnam dispatched warships to
force the Chinese military out of the area. The Chinese forces, which were
supported by the North Vietnamese, easily repelled the South Vietnamese and
consolidated Beijing's control over the islands, though Vietnam has continued the diplomatic dispute.
In the past year,
Chinese authorities have repeatedly arrested Vietnamese fishermen near
the islands, prompting angry protests from Hanoi.
THE SPRATLY ISLANDS
Location: In the South China Sea, about two-thirds of
the way from Vietnam to the Philippines
Claimed by: China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Taiwan,
Malaysia, Indonesia, and Brunei
The dispute: It might almost be easier to list the East
Asian countries that don't have a claim on this chain of about 100 islets, reefs, and sea mounts. Competing
claims on the islands and the surrounding waters began in the
1930s when the region's abundant resources, including gas, oil, and fish,
became apparent. Since the 1950s, 29 oil fields and four gas fields have been
developed in the Spratly area.
The various actors'
claims differ, though only China is bold enough to claim all the islands (based on Han dynasty
navigation records dating back to 110 A.D.). The Spratly Islands were claimed
by the Japanese during World War II but Tokyo makes no claim on them today. The
islands are uninhabited by civilians, though China, Vietnam, and the
Philippines have all stationed troops on the islands they control. The dispute
has led to violence at times: In 1998 when Chinese and Japanese
naval vessels fought over a disputed reef, more than 70 sailors were
killed.
A joint resolution in
1992 by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations committed the parties to
attempt to resolve the disputes peacefully, but many countries continue to
accuse China of using its military muscle to consolidate control over the
entire island chain.
