Japan to rename islands disputed with China

Japan has recently renamed an area, including islands disputed with China and Taiwan. The local assembly of Ishigaki city approved a plan to change the name of the area covering the Tokyo­ controlled Senkaku Islands known currently by Taiwan and China as the Diaoyus from “Tonoshiro” to “Tonoshiro Senkaku”.

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Key-Points

The Senkaku Islands are a group of uninhabited islands in the East China Sea. They are located east of Mainland China, northeast of Taiwan, west of Okinawa Island, and north of the southwestern end of the Ryukyu Islands.

They are also known as the Diaoyu Islands in Mainland China, the Diaoyutai Islands in Taiwan and the Pinnacle Islands by other observers.

The islands are the focus of a territorial dispute between Japan and China and between Japan and Taiwan.

Japanese claim on Senkaku Islands:

After World War Two, Japan renounced claims to a number of territories and islands including Taiwan in the 1951 Treaty of San Francisco.

These islands, however, came under US trusteeship and were returned to Japan in 1971 under the Okinawa reversion deal.

Japan says China raised no objections to the San Francisco deal.

And it says that it is only since the 1970s, when the issue of oil resources in the area emerged, that Chinese and Taiwanese authorities began pressing their claims.

Chinese claim on Senkaku Islands:

China says that the islands have been part of its territory since ancient times, serving as important fishing grounds administered by the province of Taiwan.

Taiwan was ceded to Japan in the Treaty of Shimonoseki in 1895, after the Sino-Japanese war.

When Taiwan was returned in the Treaty of San Francisco, China says the islands should have been returned too.