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Much Ado over Small Islands: The Sino-Japanese Confrontation over Senkaku/Diaoyu
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 14 March 2025
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Gavan McCormack closes this course reader with an article that highlights the geostrategic centrality of Okinawa by providing an overview of the currently raging dispute between China and Japan over overlapping claims to a peripheral set of uninhabited islands in “peripheral” Okinawa. The dispute has become so heated that it has generated fears that it could precipitate war between the two countries. As McCormack's insightful analysis makes clear, the issues involved grow out of the historical processes associated with the decline of the Ryukyu Kingdom and Okinawa's incorporation into the modern Japanese state. His discussion covers the actions of the national governments of Japan, China, Taiwan and the United States, and brings clarity to the dispute by detailing how differently the Senkaku issue is framed and conceived in the countries involved. It serves as an excellent illustration of how, thanks to its location, Okinawa's fate in the twenty-first century remains subject to the interplay of the larger powers active in the region, against which it remains relatively powerless.
- Type
- Part II: Contemporary Okinawan Society and Culture
- Information
- Asia-Pacific Journal , Volume 12 , Special Issue S12: Course Reader No. 12. Putting Okinawa at the Center , January 2014 , pp. 216 - 237
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This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is unaltered and is properly cited. The written permission of Cambridge University Press must be obtained for commercial re-use or in order to create a derivative work.- Copyright
- Copyright © The Authors 2014
References
Notes
1 This is a slightly revised version of a paper first delivered as keynote address to “The China-Japan Dispute over the Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands Symposium,” at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign on 19 April 2013, and presented subsequently during April-May 2013 at Cornell University, The School of Advanced and International Studies at Reischauer Institute in Washington D.C., Free University of Berlin, University of Vienna and the Free University of Tbilisi, Georgia. I am grateful for the comments and criticism received on these various occasions.
2 Jon Halliday and Gavan McCormack, Japanese Imperialism Today: Co-prosperity in Greater East Asia, Harmondsworth, Penguin, 1973, pp. 66-7; Gavan McCormack and Satoko Oka Norimatsu, Resistant Islands: Okinawa Confronts Japan and the United States, Rowman and Littlefield, 2012, pp. 209-222.
3 1990 and 2030 from Wall Street Journal Online; 2060 from OECD. Details in Gavan McCormack, “Zokkoku mondai,” in Kimura Akira and Magosaki Ukeru, eds, Owaranai, Kyoto, Hōritsu bunkasha, 2013, pp. 18-38, at p. 18.
4 “China, Japan sign joint statement on promoting strategic, mutually beneficial ties,” China View, 8 May 2008.
5 Sachiko Sakamaki, “China's Hu. Japan's Hatoyama agree to extend thaw in relations.” Bloomberg, 22 September, 2009
6 Yamada Yoshihiko, Nihon no kokkyō, Shinchō shinsho, No 107, 2005, p. 123 .
7 Guo Rongxing, “Territorial disputes and seabed petroleum exploration,” The Brookings Institution, Center for Northeast Asian Policy Studies, September 2010, p. 23.
8 Uemura Hideaki, “Ryōdo mondai to rekishi ninshiki,” Dai 11 kai “Rekishi ninshiki to Higashi Ajia no heiwa’ Foramu Tokyo kaigi, 24-26 November 2012. Hōkoku shiryoshū, pp. 87-90.
9 Hane Jiro, “Senkaku mondai ni naizai suru horiteki mujun,” Sekai, November 2012, pp. 112-119, at p. 116-118.
10 Uemura, op. cit., p. 89. See also Gavan McCormack and Satoko Oka Norimatsu, Resistant Islands: Okinawa Confronts Japan and the United States, Rowman and Littlefield, 2012, p. 5
11 Quoted in Utsumi Shōzō, “Okinawa mushi, gyogyō kyōtei de mo,” Okinawa taimusu, 17 May 2013,
12 See the series on Senkaku/Diaoyu published in Renmin rihbao, 8-10 May 2013, especially part 3, “Ma-guan jōyaku to Diaoyudao mondai o ronjiru,” Renmin ribao (Japanese edition), 10 May 2013.
13 See Ivy Lee and Fang Ming, “Deconstructing Japan's claim of sovereignty over the Diaoyu/Senkaku islands,” p. 7. The Asia-Pacific Journal - Japan Focus, 31 December 2012.
14 Lee and Ming, p. 7.
15 Hosaka Masayasu and Togo Kazuhiko, Nihon no ryodo mondai, Kakugawa shoten, 2012, p. 119.
16 Foreign Office, Japanese Government, Minor Islands Adjacent to Japan Proper, Part 2, Ryukyu and other Nansei Islands, March 1947, p. 2.
17 “‘Senkaku wa Ryūkyū no ichibu’ Chūgoku, 76 nenkan igi tonaezu - sekiyu shigen de ryōyū shuchō,” Jiji, 20 December 2012. Also “Chūgoku, ‘Senkaku wa Ryūkyū no ichibu’ to ninshiki, 50 nen no gaikō bunsho de,” Asahi shimbun, 21 December 2012.
18 Ishii Akira, “Chūgoku no Ryūkyū/Okinawa seisaku,” Kyōkai kenkyū, No 1, 2010, pp.71-96, at p. 79. See also Endō Homare, “Chūgoku kyōsantō mo shitte ita, Shō Kaiseki ga ‘Senkaku ryōyū o kotowatta’ jijitsu,” Nihon keizai shinbun, 14 February 2013. (link)
19 Edict No 27 of the (US controlled) Government of the Ryukyus in 1953 formally defined the geographic limits of the US Trust territory to include the Senkakus. That unilateral act served to extend the bounds of the Ryukyus unilaterally and illegally, according to China. (Renmin ribao, 10 May 2013).
20 Kimie Hara, “The post-war Japanese peace treaties and China's ocean frontier problems,” American Journal of Chinese Studies, vol. 11, No. 1, April 2004, pp. 1-24, at p. 23. And see Kimie Hara, Cold War Frontiers in the Asia-Pacific: Divided Territories in the San Francisco System(Abingdon: Taylor and Francis, 2006), especially chapter 7, “The Ryukyus: Okinawa and the Senkaku/Diaoyu disputes.”
21 Toyoshita, Senkaku mondai to wa nani ka, p. 52.
22 Toyoshita Narahiko, “Aete hidane nokosu Bei senryaku,” Okinawa taimusu, 12 August 2012.
23 See my Client State: Japan in the American Embrace, New York and London, Verso, 2007, and “Zokkoku mondai,” op. cit.
24 For my view of the problem as of this time, see Jon Halliday and Gavan McCormack, Japanese Imperialism Today-Co-prosperity in Greater East Asia, Harmondsworth, Penguin, 1973, pp. 62-67.
25 “Senkaku mondai o do omou ka,” or “What do you think about the Senkaku islands?” The Japan-China Summit meeting between Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka and Premier Zhou Enlai on September 27, 1972” reproduced in Lee and Ming, op. cit. p. 36. See discussion in Toyoshita Narahiko, “Senkaku mondai” to wa nani ka, Iwanami gendai bunko, 2012, pp. 4850, also Yabuki Susumu.
26 See the documents reproduced at Lee and Ming, op. cit and discussion in Tabata Mitsunaga, “Ryōyūken mondai o meguru rekishiteki jijitsu,” Sekai, December 2012, pp. 104113. Also McCormack and Norimatsu, Resistant Islands, pp. 216-7.
27 See Lee and Ming, p. 11.
28 Ministry of Foreign Affairs, “The Senkaku Islands,” March 2013.
29 Tabata, “Ryōyūken mondai o meguru rekishiteki jijitsu,” pp.104-113, at .pp. 107-8
30 Susumu Yabuki, “Interview: China-watcher Yabuki says Senkakus are a diplomatic mistake by Japan,” Asahi shimbun, 12 December 2012. Yabuki makes his strongest accusations in his subsequent interview: Yabuki Susumu, interviewed by Mark Selden, “China-Japan territorial conflicts and the US-Japan-China relations in historical and contemporary perspective,” The Asia-Pacific Journal - Japan Focus, 4 March 2013.
31 McCormack and Norimatsu, pp. 57-58.
32 There are those who now argue that it was China, first in 1992, then in 2008 and 2012, that pulled down the shelf. I am not persuaded, however, and the legal and administrative measures referred to did not lead in practice to any change in China's policies. (See Togo Kazuhiko, “The Senkakus Issue·“ NBR Japan Forum, 15 April 2013.))
33 Details in McCormack and Norimatsu, pp. 211-214.
34 “Joint Press availability,” Department of State, 27 October 2010.
35 Ben Dolven, Shirley A. Kan, Mark E. Manyin, Maritime Territorial Disputes in East Asia: Issues for Congress, Congressional Research Service, January 23, 2013, p. 16.
36 “China condemns Senkaku amendment to US-Japan security treaty,” Japan Times, 4 December 2012.
37 Yabuki, interviewed by Mark Selden, p. 14-18.
38 Lee and Ming, p. 2
39 Ishihara Shintaro, “The US-Japan alliance and the debate over Japan's role in Asia,” lecture to Heritage Foundation, Washington D.C, 16 April 2012.
40 Mizuho Aoki, “Poster boasts metro plan to buy Senkakus,” Japan Times, 14 July 2012.
41 “To the American people, from Tokyo, Japan,” Wall Street Journal, 27 July 2012. And see Kyodo, “Ad in Wall Street Journal seeks US support for Senkaku purchase plan,” Japan Times, 29 July 2012.
42 Kyodo, “Government to make bid for Senkakus,” Japan Times, 8 July 2012.
43 In the Diet on 26 July 2012. See Takahashi Kosuke, “China, Japan stretch peace pacts.” Asia Times Online, 7 August 2012.
44 Toyoshita, Senkaku mondai to wa nani ka, pp. 72-3.
45 Lee and Ming, pp. 4-5.
46 Meeting Deputy Secretary of State William Burns on 15 October, quoted in Tabata, p. 113,
47 Abe Shinzō,”Atarashii kuni e,” Bungei shunjū, January 2013, 124-133, at p. 130. China's riposte came months later when Major-General Luo Yuan declared that it would depend for resolution of the Diaoyu problem on “the elevation of our comprehensive national strength,” to which end it would proceed with mobilizing its forces into Diaoyu waters, so that “when needed we can turn the three major fleets into a fist to draw out the [Japanese] blade.” (“Viewpoint: National strength still to be raised to solve Diaoyu Islands issue,” China Military Online, 17 May 2013.)
48 APA Group, Big Talk 257 - Japan Must Take Another Look at All Facets of its Modern History, Including the Kono Statement, Murayama Statement, and Tokyo Trials Historical Viewpoint. Hakubun Shimomura interviewed by Toshio Motoya, link.
49 Kyodo, “From Beijing, Hatoyama tells Tokyo to admit row,” Japan Times, 18 January 2012.
50 AFP-Jiji, “China hype: Hatoyama war regrets,” Japan Times, 19 January 2013.
51 Abe, meeting on 15 October with Deputy Secretary of State William Burns, quoted in Tabata Mitsunaga, “Ryōyūken mondai o meguru rekishiteki jijitsu,” p. 113.
52 “Remarks With Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida After Their Meeting,” Hillary Rodham Clinton, Secretary of State, Washington, DC, January 18, 2013. For Satoko Oka Norimatsu's analysis of the media reporting of this meeting, see “Kurinton Kishioda kaiken hōdō: masumedia no aorini damasarenai yōni·” Peace Philosophy, 20 January 2013,
53 “Joint Statement by the United States and Japan,” Washington, 22 February 2013.
54 Jackie Calmes, “Japan and United States reaffirm their close ties,” New York Times, 22 February 2013.
55 Shinzo Abe, Prime Minister of Japan, “lapan is back,” Speech on 22 February 2013 to CSIS, Washington,
56 For US national and media thinking on the evolution of the “Japan question” under the Abe government, see Emma Chanlett-Avery, Mark E. Manyin, William H. Cooper, Ian E. Rinehart, Japan-U.S. Relations: Issues for Congress, Congressional Research Service, May 1, 2013. (7-5700). And see Takeuchi Yoichi, “Shushō rekishi ninshiki Bei ga kenen ‘Higashi Ajia konran’ ‘Beikoku kokueki gaisuru,” Tokyo shimbun, 9 May 2013.
57 “Eddie Mabo vs Queensland,” 1988 and 1992 in the High Court of Australia.
58 Toyoshita Narahiko, “‘Senkaku kōnyū’ mondai no kansei,” Sekai, August 2012, p. 42.
59 For discussion of this point, Toyoshita, “Senkaku kōnyū’ mondai no kansei,” pp. 41-49 (later resumed in his book, Senkaku mondai to wa nani ka, Iwanami gendai bunko, 2012.)
60 Wada Haruki, Ryōdo mondai o dō kaiketsu suru ka, Heibonsha shinsho, 2012, pp 23-33.
61 Toyoshita, “Senkaku kōnyū’ mondai no kansei,”pp. 44-45.
62 Yabe Teiji, Konoe Fumimaro, 2 vols, Kōbundō, 1952, vol 2, pp. 559-560.
63 See Peter Nolan, “Imperial Archipelagos: China, Western Colonialism and the Law of the Sea,” New Left Review, 80, March-April 2013, pp. 77-95, and with specific reference to Japan, my “Troubled seas: Japan's Pacific and East China Sea Domains (and claims,)” The Asia-Pacific Journal - Japan Focus, 3 September 2012.
64 See inter alia, “Deep-sea mud proves rich in rare earths, but remote deposits hard to extract,” Yomiuri shimbun, 22 March 2013, and “Dai kibo kaitei kōshū ‘shigen rikken’ mo yume de wa nai,” editorial, Ryukyu shimpō, 2 April 2013.
65 Gavan McCormack, “Troubled seas: Japan's Pacific and East China Sea domains (and claims),” The Asia-Pacific Journal - Japan Focus, 3 September 2012.
66 ibid.
67 Nolan, op cit, pp. 94-95.
68 In the view of Japan scholar Sun Ge (Chinese Academy of Social Sciences), “Ganzen ni semaru Okinawa minshu no sugata,” Gendai shisō, December 2012, pp, 158-165, at p. 164.
69 Alex Calvo, “Adult wisdom: The Japan-Taiwan fisheries deal,” Shingetsu News Agency, 19 April 2013.
70 Inoue, p. 123.
71 “China and Japan: Could Asia really go to war over these?” The Economist, 22 September 2012.
72 Hiyane Teruo, emeritus professor of the University of the Ryukyus, quoted in “Senkaku kaiketsu e kennai kenkyūsha ra shidō,” Ryūkyū shimpō, 13 January 2013.
73 “Facing history, resolving disputes, working towards peace in East Asia: A Statement by Minjian East Asia Forum,” revised, 12 November 2012. And see Wakabayashi Chiyo, “Futatabi ‘basho’ o sōzō suru,” Gendai shisō, December 2012, pp. 78-89.
74 “Jinmin nippō - rekishi no shiiteki kyokkai da,” editorial, Ryukyu shimpō, 12 May 2013.
75 Yabuki, interviewed by Mark Selden, p. 13.
76 Guo Rongxing, pp. 9, 25-6.
77 Wada, Ryōdo mondai o do kaiketsu suru ka, p. 19.
78 See my “Abe Days are Here Again - Japan in the World,” The Asia-Pacific Journal - Japan Focus, 24 December 2012.
79 Zhang Ning, “‘Diaoyudao’ no haigo no Chūgoku no shisōteki bunki,” Gendai shisō, December 2012, pp. 104-112, at p.106.
80 For the Congressional Research Service discussion, Maritime Territorial Disputes in East Asia: Issues for Congress, p. 16 (fn. 24)
81 Togo Kazuhiko, “Japan's territorial problem: the Northern Territories, Takeshima, and the Senkaku islands,” The National Bureau of Asian Research, Commentary, 8 May 2012. And see Togo and Kosaka, op. cit.
82 Yabuki, interviewed by Selden, p. 4.
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