Disputed islands in the East China Sea. The problem of the Senkaku Islands

Territorial dispute over the Senkaku (Diaoyu) Islands

© 2013 I. Gordeeva

The article deals with the territorial dispute between Japan and China around the Senkaku (Diaoyu) Islands, which led to a serious deterioration in relations between the two countries. The basic positions of the parties on this issue are analyzed on the basis of official documents, as well as the position of the United States. Keywords: Senkaku (Diaoyu) Islands, Japan, China, Taiwan, USA.

IN Lately the territorial dispute between Japan and China over the Senkaku (Diaoyu) Islands sharply escalated again, becoming more and more dangerous and irreconcilable. These islands, located in the East China Sea, include five small islands and three rocks, ranging in size from 800 sq. m to 4.32 sq. km, total - about 7 square meters. km. They are located about 170 km from the coast of Taiwan, 170 km from the southernmost island (Ishigaki) Japanese archipelago Nansei (Ryukyu) and 330 km from the coast of mainland China. The dispute directly involves Taiwan, which also claims sovereignty over these islands, and the United States, which takes an outwardly neutral, but in reality openly pro-Japanese position.

The current basic positions of the parties are set out in China's September 25, 2012 White Paper "The Diaoyu - China's Inalienable Territory"1, republished year after year, in the Japanese Foreign Ministry's widely circulated memo "Basic Approach to Sovereignty over the Senkaku Islands" (latest publication - October 2012)2, in numerous official statements, articles, collections of materials. The issue of Senkaku (Diaoyu) was repeatedly raised during hearings in the US Congress, a detailed American position is contained in the report of the Congressional Research Service of September 25, 2012.3

According to the data of the Chinese side (PRC and Taiwan) - with reference to numerous historical sources, maps, including Japanese ones, the islands were discovered by China back in the Ming era (1368-1644). Then they were included in the zone of the coast guard of China. During the Qing era (1644-1911), the Diaoyu Islands became administratively part of Chinese province Taiwan. Before the start of the Sino-Japanese War (1894-1895), no one disputed China's rights to the Diaoyu Islands, each of which was given Chinese names.

Japan's interest in the islands began to manifest itself from 1884 - after the annexation by Japan in 1879 of the Ryukyu kingdom, which was previously a vassal of China and was renamed

Gordeeva Irina Viktorovna, Senior Lecturer of Japanese at the Higher School of Economics. Email: [email protected]

after being annexed to "Okinawa Prefecture". According to the materials of the White Paper of the PRC, the events unfolded as follows. Beginning in 1884, Japan sent several secret detachments to the islands to survey them. The governor of Okinawa several times addressed the Japanese Foreign Ministry with a proposal to include the islands in Okinawa Prefecture. However, the Japanese Foreign Ministry then took a cautious position, pointing out that the installation of signs on the islands about their belonging to Japan could attract attention and provoke protests from the Qing imperial court. After the Japanese-Chinese war broke out in July 1894 and Japanese troops captured the port of Luishun (Port Arthur) at the end of November, thereby prejudging the outcome of the war in their favor, the Japanese side (this was then done by Foreign Minister M. Munemitsu) decided it was time to act. On January 14, 1895, the Cabinet of Ministers of Japan adopted a secret resolution on the inclusion of the said islands into the Okinawa Prefecture. The islands were assigned Japanese names However, the name Senkaku was given only in 1900. Under the terms of the Shimonoseki Treaty signed on April 17, 1895, China ceded Taiwan to Japan "together with the islands adjacent to or belonging to it." Specifically, only the Pescador Islands (Penghuledao Islands) were named. However, the Chinese side proceeds from the fact, and constantly emphasizes this, that Taiwan was transferred along with the Diaoyu Islands, which at that time were part of Taiwan Province. This circumstance is fundamental importance for China, defining its further position in such a way that the Diaoyu Islands were to be transferred to China along with Taiwan after the defeat of Japan in World War II in accordance with the Yalta, Potsdam and other decisions of the victorious powers.

As for the Japanese interpretation of this issue, in the mentioned memo of the Japanese Foreign Ministry, it is as follows: “Starting from 1885, the Japanese government carried out in-depth exploration of the Senkaku Islands with the help of the authorities of Okinawa Prefecture and in other ways. Based on the data received, it was confirmed that the Senkaku Islands are uninhabited, there is no evidence that they are under Chinese control. On this basis, on January 14, 1895, the Japanese government decided to install signs on the islands, thereby officially including them in Japanese territory. Since then, the Senkaku Islands have always been an integral part of the Nansei Islands, which are the territory of Japan. These islands were neither part of Taiwan nor part of the Pescadores, which were ceded to Japan by the Qing Dynasty of China in accordance with Article II of the Shimonoseki Treaty, which came into force in May 1895. Accordingly, the Senkaku Islands were not included in the list of territories, from which Japan refused under Article II of the San Francisco Peace Treaty. The Senkaku Islands were transferred to the administration of the United States as part of the Nansei Archipelago in accordance with Article III of the said treaty and included in the territory, the administrative rights of which were returned to Japan in accordance with the Agreement between Japan and the United States of America regarding the Ryukyu Archipelago and the Daito Islands, signed June 17, 1971 The facts presented clearly show the status of the Senkaku Islands as part of the territory of Japan. The fact that China did not object to the islands' status as under US administration under Article III of the San Francisco Peace Treaty clearly indicates that China did not consider the Senkaku Islands to be part of Taiwan. Only in the second half of the 1970s, after the issue of developing oil fields on the continental shelf in the East China Sea, did the Chinese government and Taiwan authorities begin to raise questions about the Senkaku Islands. Moreover, none of the arguments put forward by the Chinese government as "historical, geographical or geological" evidence provides a legal basis, in terms of international law, to support China's arguments regarding the Senkaku Islands.

Japan's position provokes a sharply negative reaction from Beijing. It is pointed out that the Japanese government was well aware that the Diaoyu Islands were by no means "Terra nullius" (no man's land), and decided to annex the islands only by inflicting a military defeat on China (according to the Chinese White Paper, Japan's advance in 1885-1895 to capture Senkaku Islands - with a constant eye on the reaction of the Qing imperial court - is clearly recorded in Japanese diplomatic documents compiled by the Japanese Foreign Ministry itself). It is emphasized that, in its fundamental basis, China has never renounced sovereignty over these islands, proceeded and continues to proceed from the fact that they should have been returned to China - together with Taiwan - following the results of the Second World War. It is also said that the PRC, like the authorities of Taiwan, was not invited to the San Francisco Conference. In this regard, the then Premier and Foreign Minister of the PRC, Zhou Enlai, declared on September 18, 1951, on behalf of the PRC government, that the San Francisco Peace Treaty was "illegal and void", Chinese government does not recognize it, since China was excluded from participation in the preparation, formulation and signing of the Treaty5. It is also noted that initially, when the Ryukyu Islands were transferred to US administration, the Diaoyu Islands were not included in the administration. The jurisdiction of the American administration was extended to them only in December 1953, which, as the Chinese White Paper says, met "strong objections" from China.

On June 17, 1971, the United States and Japan signed an agreement on the return of the Ryukyu Islands (together with the Senkaku Islands) to Japan. In this regard, the Chinese Foreign Ministry issued a statement on December 30, 1971, which emphasized: “The inclusion by the US and Japanese governments of the Chinese Diaoyu Islands in the territories returned to Japan under the Okinawa Return Agreement is completely illegal. This in no way can change the territorial sovereignty of the PRC over the Diaoyu Islands. The Taiwanese authorities made a similar statement.

In September 1972, Japan and the PRC established diplomatic relations between themselves, and on August 12, 1978, they signed a Treaty of Peace and Friendship. Being at that time in difficult international circumstances, the Chinese side preferred not to aggravate the Diaoyu issue, although it was raised by the parties during the negotiations. According to Deputy Premier Deng Xiaoping during a summit meeting with Prime Minister T. Fukuda in October 1978, at the talks in 1972 and 1978, the parties agreed to "put aside" the solution of this issue. “People of our generation,” Deng Xiaoping said in an interview with T. Fukuda and at a press conference on October 25, 1978, “do not have sufficient wisdom to resolve this discussion, perhaps the next generation will be wiser than us. Then a solution will be found with which everyone would agree. At the same time, as stated Japanese side However, there are “no facts confirming Japan’s agreement with the proposal of the Chinese side to “postpone” the solution of the issue or “maintain the status quo” in the situation with the Sen-kaku Islands”8. It is noted that T. Fukuda did not react to these words of Deng Xiaoping.

GORDEEVA IRINA VIKTOROVNA - 2014

Six months after the speech of the Kuomintang administration of Taiwan with a protest against the return of the Ryukyu and Senkaku islands to Japan, on December 30, 1971, Beijing also published an official statement on this matter. Formally, this statement was “tied” to the moment the Japanese Parliament approved the Japanese-American agreement of June 17, 1970.

In principle, Beijing's position on this issue completely coincides with the position of Taipei. Peking diplomacy solves the issue of arguing its position in a much simpler way than it was done in the statement of the Kuomintang administration of Taiwan. The document of the PRC Foreign Ministry uses exclusively historical argumentation - a widely tested method in territorial disputes imposed by China on its neighbors land border. The statement reads, in part: “The Diaoyu Island and other islands have always been Chinese territory. Even under the Ming Dynasty, these islands were already in the zone of China's maritime defense; they were islands belonging to the Chinese island of Taiwan, not belonging to the Ryukyu, which are now called Okinawa. The border of China with the Ryukyu in this area lies between the islands of Chiweyu and Kume; Chinese fishermen from Taiwan have long been engaged in economic activity on about. Diaoyu and other islands.

Note that the “question” of whether or not the Senkaku Islands are part of the Ryukyu archipelago, which Beijing focuses on, is an artificially far-fetched Chinese side. No one has ever - and the Japanese side agrees with this - included the Senkaku Islands in the Ryukyu archipelago.

In connection with the official announcement by the government of the People's Republic of China of its position regarding the ownership of the Senkaku Islands, one should obviously note an important moment in the development of the situation in this region. In 1970, preliminary sounding and probing of positions began, an active unofficial exchange of views between the PRC and the USA on the improvement and normalization of relations between the two countries. In July 1971, the then Assistant to the President of the United States for national security H. Kissinger, who held talks with Zhou Enlai and through whom the Chinese government officially invited US President R. Nixon to visit China. In October 1971, H. Kissinger again visited Beijing. All this testified to a significant easing of Sino-American relations. After the signing of the Japanese-American agreement on June 17, 1971, on the return of all rights to the Ryukyu archipelago to Japan, American military personnel began to gradually evacuate from the area. In the process of evacuation and the emerging normalization of relations with the United States, as if as a test of the readiness of the American administration to continue to pursue a policy of softening relations with China, a statement by the PRC Foreign Ministry dated December 30, 1971 was published in Beijing, which contained the PRC's official claims to the Senkaku Islands.

In this episode, the United States showed its loyalty to China by refusing to get involved in the current conflict, despite the fact that some political circles in Japan persistently tried to enlist their support in the dispute that arose.

Beijing's official statement provoked an immediate reaction from Tokyo: on January 6, 1972, the Japanese Foreign Ministry issued a brief but very energetic statement warning that after the US withdrawal from the area, Japanese forces would be responsible for the defense of the Senkaku Islands. self defense.

On January 13, 1972, the Xinhua News Agency published a commentary in connection with this demarche of the Japanese government, in which it reaffirmed China's claim to sovereignty over the Senkaku Islands and protested "the greedy aspirations of the reactionary Sato government to annex Chinese territory."

Tensions in the East China Sea continued to escalate. In February, the Kuomintang administration of Taiwan took another step: the Taipei press published a report that a decision had been made to include the Senkaku Islands in Yilan County, Taiwan Province. In connection with this decision, the authorities of Yilan County stuck to their intention to send a special team to the islands in March to set up administrative institutions there.

With regard to this report, especially that part of it which deals with the establishment of "administrative institutions" on the Senkaku Islands, it is probably not out of place to recall once again that we are talking about islands on which there is no permanent population.

On February 17, the Japanese government protested against the decision of the Taiwanese authorities to include the islands in the administrative unit of Taiwan Province. Reports of this, which appeared in the pages of Japanese newspapers, gave impetus to an intensified public campaign in defense of Japan's rights to the Senkaku Islands. The Kyodo Tsushin Agency reported on March 3 from Naha, administrative center Okinawa what's local legislative assembly approved a resolution calling on the Japanese government to try to convince China to give up its claim to the islands.

In March 1972, the question of the islands was discussed at a session of the Japanese Parliament. Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs T. Fukuda made a statement on this issue at a meeting of one of the committees of the parliament. According to a correspondent for the Kyodo Tsushin agency on March 8, T. Fukuda gave a historical overview of the events connected with the development of the Senkaku Islands by Japan since 1885 in his statement. In conclusion, the minister stressed that the islands undoubtedly belong to Japan and the claims of other countries to them are "unfair and deplorable."

The answer to this statement by T. Fukuda was a new commentary by the Xinhua News Agency, published in the Chinese press on March 31. Xinhua again categorically asserted that "the Chinese people will certainly return the Diaoyu and other islands."

It is easy to see that before the beginning of 1972 the steps taken by Beijing and Taipei seemed to complement each other. In fact, Beijing immediately came out in support of any initiative by the Taiwanese Kuomintang administration aimed at asserting China's rights to the Senkaku Islands. However, the inclusion of the islands in Yilan County was one of the last steps taken by the Kuomintang administration in this regard. Its international position deteriorated sharply after the restoration of China's UN rights in late 1971, so it took a more cautious stance.

At the same time, some nuances appeared in Chinese propaganda around the issue of ownership of the Senkaku Islands. By this time, serious changes were taking shape on the domestic political scene in Japan (E. Sato was resigning), and the Chinese side obviously considered it untimely to take any steps that could in advance restore against it the future political leadership of Japan. This concerns not only the issue of China's territorial claims against Japan - Chinese propaganda has sharply muffled all anti-Japanese speeches, except for those that were directed personally against E. Sato. Therefore, the Chinese press did not react in any way to the entry into force of the Japanese-American agreement on the return of the Ryukyu Islands to Japan, under which the Senkaku Islands also fell.

At the same time, in connection with the entry into force of the Japan-US agreement, the Chinese side has taken certain steps through official channels. Thus, the Albanian newspaper Zeri i Popullit reported on May 24, 1972, that Huang Hua, Permanent Representative of the People's Republic of China to the UN, in a letter addressed to the Chairman of the Security Council protested against the inclusion of the Senkaku Islands in the Japanese-American agreement. The letter reiterated that these islands have long been supposedly Chinese territory and that any US-Japan deal involving the islands is illegal and, in Beijing's view, has no effect. The Chinese press, however, kept silent about this demarche of the PRC representative to the UN.

On July 7, 1972, a cabinet headed by K. Tanaka came to power in Japan. The new government set as its goal, along with the strengthening of Japanese positions in relation to the United States, the normalization of relations with the PRC, which the Prime Minister announced in his very first speech.

At the end of September 1972, K. Tanaka visited China, culminating in an agreement on the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries on a basis that, in principle, corresponded to the requirements put forward in this matter by the Chinese side. However, in terms of the settlement of territorial problems, this visit did not give anything to Japan. As the correspondent of the Kyodo Tsushin agency reported on K. Tanaka's press conference on October 1, 1972, when the Japanese Prime Minister tried to discuss the issue of ownership of the Senkaku Islands during Japanese-Chinese negotiations, Zhou Enlai walked away from this discussion, stating: “ But we will argue about it here. After all, these are just tiny dots that are even difficult to notice on geographical maps. They only became a problem because oil was found around them.”

Indeed, the Senkaku Islands were difficult to find on Chinese maps published before 1970: these islands simply do not appear on them.

In general, the analysis of cartographic materials published in China gives very interesting results in connection with the Senkaku problem. It is well known that both Kuomintang and Maoist diplomacy, anticipating the official presentation of their territorial claims to neighboring countries, widely used the method of "cartographic aggression". This method consists in the fact that certain areas of neighboring countries, which were later officially claimed, were included on Chinese maps as part of its territory. So, from the very first years of existence in China people's republic the maps published in the PRC depicted by it certain regions of the Soviet Far East and the entire Pamir, vast regions of Mongolia and India, the entire "Afghan corridor", the north of the Kachin region and the entire left bank of the Salween in the Shan region of Burma. In the same way, all the islands of the South China Sea were depicted on the maps as belonging to China. But not a single map even mentions the existence of the Senkaku Islands.

Of course, the islands are small. But Chinese cards they scrupulously depicted all the reefs and atolls, including the shallows of Macclesfield Bank covered with water during high tides, where, from the point of view of international law, there are no islands as such. The image of the Senkaku Islands on Chinese maps appeared only after the question of their ownership arose, and they began to be depicted even on maps with such a scale as 1: 50,000,000!

No less curious is the fact that the Chinese maps of the Taiwan province published before 1970-1971 limit it, and, consequently, the “Taiwan region” of Fr. Pengjia, located about 60 km northeast of Taiwan. On some maps, in the place where the Senkaku Islands are located, a sidebar with a legend is placed.

And only after the problem arose, the "Taiwan area" on the maps was significantly expanded. An example of this is the map of the province of Taiwan from the Atlas of China, published in 1973.

It is also interesting that even on the new maps, the Senkaku Islands are depicted differently from all other islands. If all other islands, say, the South China Sea, even the smallest ones, have a name next to their image, then the Senkaku Islands are only mapped. Two of them - Uotsuri and Sekibi - are marked with numbers, and their Chinese names - Diaoyuidao and Chiweiyu - are given, as a rule, not even in the legend, but outside the map frame.

Cartographic materials published in Taiwan depicted the area lying to the northeast of Taiwan, as well as similar publications in the PRC. A vivid example of this is the five-volume "National Atlas of China", prepared by the Taiwanese military academy and published in 1962. Volume I of this edition is devoted entirely to Taiwan. General maps of the province (for example, maps B1, B6, B8) include, to the northeast of the island, only the Nengjia and Mianhua Islands, which are 50-60 km away from Taiwan, in the tagake province. There is no name of the Senkaku Islands - neither Japanese, nor Chinese, nor English - and in the appendix to that consolidated index geographical names provinces.

In both Beijing and Taipei press, the area of ​​the Senkaku Islands was referred to as an area of ​​active fishing for fishermen from Taiwan. But here in volume V of the said edition there is a map A15 “Main fishing areas”. On this map, the Senkaku Islands do not appear as one of the "main fishing areas" of fishermen from Taiwan. At the same time, it is well known that Japanese fishermen are actively fishing in this area.

The analysis of documents, publications and cartographic materials of the Chinese side allows us to conclude that the question of ownership of the Senkaku Islands, raised at the initiative of the Kuomintang administration of Taiwan, arose unexpectedly for Beijing. Beijing was not ready for it. But he immediately supported the Kuomintang initiative, seeing in this an opportunity not only to try to take over the entire continental shelf of the East China Sea or most of it, but also to gain leverage over the Japanese government by toughening or softening its position on this issue. In addition, the Peking leadership, of course, could not allow the Kuomintang to turn out to be more "patriots" than they were, advocating the "restoration of rights" of China to the islands allegedly "lost" in the distant past.

As far as Japan is concerned, apart from prestige and other considerations, there is at least one extremely important factor influencing its position with respect to the Senkaku Islands. The Washington Post newspaper wrote about this as early as December 30, 1970: “The Senkaku Islands are the only islands of the Ryukyu chain located in the continental shelf area, and therefore the only islands that will give Japan the right to claim some share in the development of the resources of the continental shelf ".

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While the whole world is following the development of the Ukrainian crisis and explosions in Syria with bated breath, Japanese newspapers publish more and more reports every day that “China’s patrol ships, consisting of 3 ships, entered the waters of the Senkaku Islands on October 2, thus thereby violating the maritime border, and intend to patrol the shores of the archipelago for 9 days” (毎日新聞 02/10/2014). Only a few remember that quite recently a territorial dispute over a group of islands in the East China Sea almost caused a military conflict between China and Japan. Today we will try to figure out why these islands cause so much controversy.

Senkaku (Chinese Diaoyu) is a Japanese-controlled uninhabited archipelago in the East China Sea. It consists of 8 islands with total area only 7 km². Historically, Senkaku were part of the Ryukyu principality (a state that existed in the 15th-19th centuries on the territory of Okinawa and Ryukyu in the south modern Japan), but in fact, until 1895, neither China, nor Japan, nor even the principality itself paid any attention to the islands. There are hardly more than 5 historical documents where you can find references to them. In 1879, Ryukyu was forcibly incorporated into Japan, and a few years later, Senkaku, which no one claimed the rights to, became part of the empire. Years passed, two world and several local wars took place. Senkaku became part of Okinawa Prefecture, which, after the occupation of Japan by US troops, came under the jurisdiction of Washington, and then was returned to the Japanese.

No one doubted the legitimacy of Tokyo's rights to the islands, until in 1968 the United Nations Economic Commission for Asia and the Far East (ECADV) discovered that vast reserves of oil and natural gas were located in the archipelago. This year can be noted as the beginning of a global conflict between China and Japan, which to this day prevents both countries from carrying out an effective foreign policy and endangering the security of the Asian region as a whole. Diplomatic relations between Beijing and Tokyo, severed during the era of militarism, were restored in 1972, and a year earlier, the PRC and Taiwan claimed their rights to Senkaku. However, at that time the parties were not ready to resolve the issue - at each meeting of heads of state, the issue of the islands was touched upon and safely postponed "until better times." These times came in 1992, when Beijing passed the law on territorial waters, according to which the maritime territory of the PRC included the archipelago. Not surprisingly, such provocative actions aroused the indignation of Tokyo. In 2003, China extended a gas pipeline from the islands to the mainland, illegally starting to develop deposits. Thus, legally, the islands belong to Japan, but rich natural resources the water area is handled by China.

As proof of its rights to these territories, on September 11, 2012, the Japanese government bought the Senkaku Islands, which, due to status confusion, ended up in the hands of a private individual, for 2.05 billion yen (about $26 million). Beijing responded to this without delay. In addition to riots and rallies against the appropriation of the islands by Japan, the activities of many large Japanese firms in China were suspended, and they, of course, suffered enormous losses, having lost their largest buyer. On September 14, the PRC introduced six patrol ships into the waters near the Senkaku Islands, although Japan considers them to be its own. It was the most massive demonstrative entry of ships in the entire history of the conflict, moreover, from that moment on, Chinese ships constantly ply near the archipelago.

It doesn't make sense to bring full list events related to this conflict, since their essence is the same: both sides are trying to prove their rights to own the islands. However, in nearly 50 years of strife, the lines between territorial claims and regional politics have blurred. At the time of " cold war"The dispute fit into the policy of confrontation between the capitalist and socialist models of the state, and now it has grown into a confrontation between two Asian giants: the old (Japan) and the new (PRC). According to the researchers, the benefits of the Chinese side from the acquisition of Senkaku are not only in the huge reserves of natural gas and seafood. The appropriation of the archipelago will also provide new outlets to the Pacific Ocean, which are so necessary for a state that has the potential to become a superpower. With Beijing increasing defense spending, its ambitions threaten to escalate into a military conflict. It should be noted that the Beijing-Tokyo dispute is also connected with the interests of the United States, however, despite the formal support of the legitimate interests of Japan, they tried to distance themselves from this problem. China, on the other hand, constantly sends military ships to patrol the waters of the archipelago, and also declared the airspace over the islands its own, forcing all flying aircraft vehicles, including American ones, to warn the PRC about their movements.

Mr. Abe, who headed the government in 2012, faced a mass of unresolved foreign policy problems left to him by the previous ruling Democratic Party. During her reign, the country found itself in a semicircle of aggravated relations: Russia, China, the ROK and the United States. As a result, by 2014, the new Abe cabinet managed to defuse the situation and make contact with its neighbors. His policy is called "soft power" - this is a combination of a hard course with "soft" methods of its implementation. Japan has never officially recognized the existence of a territorial dispute with China, as it has always been sure that the islands belong to it. However, despite the increase in defense spending and a show of force, Tokyo, most likely, will not dare to move from a declaration of intentions to open actions without the support of the United States.

China is guided by the same principles of the historical belonging of the islands and is trying to call on the leadership of Tokyo to dialogue. According to the Japanese government, in the diplomatic sphere, the PRC is really interested in maintaining a stable international situation and maintaining good neighborly relations with the United States and Japan. However, Beijing's military objectives, published in the 2013 Defense White Paper, cast doubt on its peacefulness. Thus, the readiness of the army should be aimed at winning a local war at any moment. The word "local" is key. Defense spending in China Last year increased by 10.7% to 720.2 billion yuan in 2013.

Japan's defense budget, according to Reuters, in 2013 was the highest in 22 years, increasing by 3%. In the next 5 years, the government plans to spend 23.97 trillion yen on defense, while 23.37 trillion yen was allocated in the previous 5 years.

Based on these facts, it is difficult to talk about the possibility of an early resolution of the territorial dispute, however, one should not forget about such a major conflict that threatens to turn into a military one.

Anastasia Fedotova

And the People's Republic of China.

Story

According to official Tokyo, since 1885, the Japanese government has repeatedly studied the Senkaku Islands and received accurate confirmation that the islands were not only uninhabited, but there were no signs that they were under Chinese control. Based on this, on January 14, 1895, the government of the country officially included the Senkaku Islands in the territory of Japan in accordance with the international law terra nullius - "no man's land".

The Senkaku Islands were neither part of the island of Taiwan nor part of the Pescadores Islands, which were ceded to Japan by Qing China in accordance with the Shimonoseki Treaty, which was concluded in April 1895 following the first Sino-Japanese War. In the period 1900-1940. On the islands of Kubajima and Uotsurishima, there were 2 settlements of Japanese fishermen, with a total of 248 inhabitants. A bonita processing plant also operated on the island of Wotsurijima. Due to the crisis in the Japanese fishing industry, the factory closed and the settlements were abandoned by the beginning of 1941.
In 1945, Japan lost the war and lost all the territories it had acquired since the end of the 19th century. Senkaku, along with Okinawa, came under US jurisdiction. But in the early 1970s, the United States returned Okinawa to Japan, giving it and Senkaku.

In October 2004, the first round of consultations on the Senkaku gas field took place, during which the parties agreed to resolve all issues exclusively through negotiations, without resorting to the use of force. At the same time, China rejected the demands of the Japanese side to acquaint it with the PRC's plans for drilling and gas production at Senkaku.

Also, Tencent QQ, a service popular in China, launched filtering messages related to the controversial issue of the Senkaku Islands. In August 2004, QQ Games began filtering words such as "钓鱼岛" (Senkaku Islands) and "保钓" (Senkaku Defense Movement). This act sparked a lot of debate, and Tencent has since removed the filter.

In April 2005, the Japanese government decided to start considering applications from Japanese companies for issuing licenses for gas production on the shelf of the archipelago. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China described this decision as "one-sided and provocative", pointing out that Japanese firms cannot carry out work in the territory that the PRC considers its own. Japan's decision was one of the reasons that led to massive anti-Japanese demonstrations and pogroms in China. [ ]

In June 2005, the second round of Sino-Japanese consultations took place. They didn't bring results. China refused to stop gas production from the shelf on the border between China and Japanese waters and again rejected the request of the Japanese side to provide it with information about the work on the shelf. The Chinese Foreign Ministry said that China has a "sovereign right" to extract gas in "waters close to the coast of the PRC" and not "the subject of a dispute with Japan."

The parties agreed to continue negotiations. Japan agreed to consider a Chinese proposal to jointly develop the field. Until 2010, Japan and China were negotiating the details of the project, but they were suspended at the initiative of the PRC after Japan detained a Chinese trawler in the area of ​​the disputed Senkaku Islands / and arrested its captain.

In March 2011, the Chinese oil and gas company CNOOC began developing the Shirakaba / Chunxiao / gas field. The Shirakaba / Chunxiao / field is located on the Chinese side of the line along which Japan separates the economic zones of the two countries, but Tokyo believes that it has access to a common gas reservoir in the East China Sea.

“The Diaoyu Archipelago and its adjacent islands have been Chinese territory since ancient times, and China has undeniable sovereignty over these islands. Any measures taken by the Japanese side in the waters near the Diaoyu Islands are illegal and invalid, ”this is the official point of view of the PRC on the situation around the Diaoyu Islands.

On April 15, 2012, Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara announced that the capital of Japan was going to buy these islands in the East China Sea, which are also claimed by China.

In the area of ​​the islands there are deposits of natural gas, which China intends to develop. Official Tokyo, on the other hand, claims that the sea border of the two states clearly delimits these territories, and the gas-rich areas belong to Japan. On this moment Tokyo authorities lease these islands from private owners, who are Japanese citizens.

On July 11, patrol ships of the Chinese Navy were maneuvering off the coast of Senkaku Island. In this regard, on July 15, 2012, the Japanese ambassador to the PRC was recalled for consultations.

On August 19, anti-Japanese demonstrations took place in China, in a number of places ending in pogroms of Japanese shops and Japanese-made cars. The reason for the speeches was the fact that a group of Japanese citizens landed on the disputed islands and hoisted the flag of Japan there.

On September 5, Japanese media reported that the Japanese government was able to negotiate with a private owner of 3 of the 5 Senkaku Islands to buy them for 2.05 billion yen, exceeding the offer of Tokyo Prefecture.

On September 11, China responded to this decision of Japan - to disputed islands two warships were sent "to protect sovereignty". The Chinese Foreign Ministry explained that if Japan does not refuse to buy the Senkaku Islands, which the PRC considers historically belonging to it, then the incident could threaten with "serious consequences." Mass anti-Japanese pogroms began that same week, which led to the closure of factories owned by Japanese companies.

On September 16, relations between China and Japan escalated after mass protests began in China against Japan's "nationalization" of the islands, which the PRC considers its territory. Anti-Japanese demonstrations involving several thousand people took place in Shanghai, Guangzhou, Qingdao and Chengdu.

Later, 1,000 Chinese fishing boats make their way to the Japanese-controlled Senkaku Islands. On the same day, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the PRC announced that the Chinese government was ready to submit part of the documents regarding the outer limit of the continental shelf beyond the 200-mile maritime zone in the East China Sea to the UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf, established on the basis of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.

Two of the 11 Chinese military patrol ships cruising near the Senkaku Islands entered Japanese territorial waters.

The Senkaku Islands (name from Japanese cartography), or Diaoyu Islands (from Chinese cartography) are located in the southern part of the East China Sea and are uninhabited. Uninhabited - despite the fact that last year several hundred Japanese were on some of these islands, with the aim of emphasizing their territorial affiliation with Japan, long disputed by China and Taiwan.

In the last third of the 19th century, the islands were not officially considered either Japanese or Chinese territory, although Japan at that time marked them on maps as its own. New cartographic objects were not legalized as Japanese possessions - because of the then difficulties in Japanese-Chinese relations.

The Senkaku Archipelago came under the control of Japan in 1895, and together with Taiwan, which fell under the jurisdiction of Tokyo after Japan's victory over China, under the Shimonoseki Treaty.

After World War II, Okinawa, Senkaku, and Taiwan were under American occupation and then transferred to Japan by the US. However, after the war, Japan renounced the rights to Taiwan, but the situation with the Senkaku Islands became more complicated.

In 1968, the United Nations Economic Commission for Asia and Far East published a report stating that a rich oil field is allegedly located near the Senkaku Islands - namely, on the continental shelf of the East China Sea. Studies of the seabed by scientists from Japan, China and Taiwan showed that the probable area of ​​the proposed deposit could be two hundred thousand square kilometers.

Taiwan first began seeking Japan's consent to the Taiwanese-American development of an oil field, and then, in 1970, voiced claims to sovereignty over Senkaku. Following Taiwan, the People's Republic of China also announced territorial claims to the Diaoyu Islands. Beijing decided that, restoring historical justice after the war, Tokyo should have renounced the rights to Senkaku (Diaoyu) - just as they had renounced Taiwan.

So, the cause of the international conflict is a banal economic one: a deposit.

In 1972, diplomatic relations were established between the PRC and Japan. In 1974, China proposed to postpone consideration of the dispute over the islands. The Japanese side agreed, and the conflict not only lost its sharpness, but, as it were, dissolved in time.

However, starting in 1992, the territorial dispute began to escalate again. Based on the Cairo Declaration of 1943, which deprived Japan of all the territories it had conquered, the PRC declared that the territory of the islands was originally Chinese.

The adoption of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea in 1996 led to the fact that the Senkaku archipelago was included in the maritime economic zones simultaneously by both Japan and China.

In the same year, the Japanese government decided to introduce a two hundred mile exclusive economic zone around the country; the disputed Senkaku archipelago also fell within these two hundred miles. In response, the Chinese authorities announced the creation of a group of troops intended for possible actions in the Diaoyu.

Then leapfrog began with a lighthouse and flags. On July 14, 1996, the Japanese Youth Association set up a lighthouse on Kitakojima Island, and on August 18, the Senkaku Islands Protection Society set up a lighthouse on. Watsuri Japanese flag.

On October 7, 1996, forty Chinese ships entered Japanese territorial waters near Senkaku. The protesters landed on the island of Wotsurijima and planted the flags of the People's Republic of China and Taiwan there. Later they were removed by the Japanese.

In 1999, the Japanese press reported that the Chinese, considering the islands their own, began geological exploration on the shelf of the Senkaku archipelago. In the same year, natural gas was discovered in the archipelago. There is information in the media that in 2003 the Chinese tried to drill wells near the sea border with Japan.

In 2004, Zhang Yesui, Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs of the PRC, stated China's unequivocal position on the Diaoyu issue: the islands are the original and sovereign territory of the PRC. China later refused to let Japan know about its gas production plans. In turn, the Japanese government next year decided to start issuing licenses to Japanese companies for offshore gas production. The PRC said that Japanese firms do not have the right to work in the territory of the PRC. The negotiations did not produce positive results. China has stated that the islands are not in dispute with Japan.

Negotiations were resumed at various intervals until 2010, when they were suspended by Beijing due to the arrest of the captain of a Chinese trawler, detained in the Senkaku archipelago. China responded harshly: some Japanese businessmen were arrested, student visits to China were canceled, and exports to Japan of rare earth minerals important for its industry were suspended.

Such a harsh reaction from Beijing caused Japan to talk about rearmament, which is generally not typical for a pacifist country. Tokyo decided to arm itself because China began to arm itself. Quote from a review of an article by Marco Del Corona ("Corriere della Sera", translation source -):

“We need to arm ourselves,” Tokyo says, because China is arming and causing fear. At the same time, "an alliance with the United States remains indispensable to the security and peace" of Japan. The "Main Directions" provide for the allocation of 280 billion dollars for the military needs over five years. Tokyo intends to change priorities. Fewer ground troops and strengthened air and naval forces: doubling the number of missile defense bases (from 3 to 6), increasing the number of submarines (from 16 to 22), fighters and so on. The epicenter of efforts is shifting from the island of Hokkaido, over which the Soviet threat loomed during the Cold War, to the located south of the island Okinawa, where contentious issues with China are perceived more sharply.”

A month earlier, Philip Pont of Le Monde wrote the following (translation source -):

“Sino-Japanese tensions could have been resolved were it not for the diplomatic impotence of the Kahn cabinet… This diplomatic failure, indicating the lack of foresight of the Japanese Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara, who preaches toughness towards China with the only long-term goal of strengthening the alliance with the United States, also due to the lack of channels of direct communication between the Japanese democrats and the Chinese leadership, as well as mistrust in relations between the administration and the government ... "

Le Monde's correspondent believes that Dmitry Medvedev's visit to the Kuril Islands following the incident with the Chinese trawler is not a coincidence: after all, in September the leaders of Russia and China signed a document on mutual support in protecting the interests of the two countries. The journalist throws up his hands: “Can Japan afford to be in conflict with both China and Russia at the same time?”

You don't have to be an expert on international relations to draw a simple conclusion: the long island disputes, exacerbated by the activities of the expressive Tokyo governor, are leading Japan into protracted quarrels with its neighbors. It makes no sense to reopen the long-standing dispute with Russia: the Kuriles will remain Russian. To quarrel with our neighbor China, hoping for America's fraternal help and changing pacifism, which, by the way, appeared in Japan (as in post-war Germany) as one of the causes of the "economic miracle" - to ideas about weapons (by the way, even) - yes even in times of crisis, it is no longer just pointless, but also harmful. Where the best option a solution to the Japanese-Chinese dispute, rather than bilateral provocations, would be to share offshore gas with China: they would agree, work out quotas, even create joint ventures. And only then, having devastated the shelf, they would draw new borders on the maps. Themselves small uninhabited islands, which have no economic value, are not needed by either China or Japan - but gas is needed. You also need stability in relationships.

As for the Kuriles, here, for the most part, the Japanese are not interested in the islands themselves, but in the sea. In the Sea of ​​Okhotsk, the most fishy in the world, in addition to an abundance of saury, salmon and cod, there are also offshore oil and gas fields.

The same will always give a reason to choose a suitable territory. For example, the Americans, with whom the Japanese want to be friends against China, have no place in America. Any native Indian can rightfully claim this.