Context: Recently, a local council in southern Japan has approved a bill to change the name of an area containing Senkaku Islands from Tonoshiro to Tonoshiro Senkaku.
Issue

• The uninhabited islands are at the centre of a festering row between Tokyo and Beijing and the move sparked anger in both Taiwan and mainland China.
• Beijing has denounced the move as illegal and a serious provocation.
• Taiwan says the islands are part of its territory, and also protested the move.

Current Scenario

• Japan’s Ishigaki city assembly has passed a bill to rename an administrative area covering uninhabited Senkaku islands in the East China Sea.
• The move triggered a backlash from China and Taiwan, both of which also claim the uninhabited islets as their own.
• The assembly changed the name of the southern Japan area containing the Senkaku Islands from Tonoshiro to Tonoshiro Senkaku, which the two countries see as an attempt to cement Japan’s claim by inserting the Japanese name Senkaku.

About Senkaku Islands

• The Senkaku Islands are located in the East China Sea between Japan, the People’s Republic of China, and the Republic of China (Taiwan).
• The archipelago contains five uninhabited islands and three barren rocks, ranging in size from 800 m2 to 4.32 km2.

What are the grounds for Japan’s territorial sovereignty over the Senkaku Islands?

• The Senkaku Islands were not included in the territory which Japan renounced under Article 2 of the San Francisco Peace Treaty of 1951 that legally defined the territory of Japan after World War II.
• Under Article 3 of the treaty, the islands were placed under the administration of the United States as part of the Nansei Shoto Islands. The Senkaku Islands are included in the areas whose administrative rights were reverted to Japan in accordance with the Agreement between Japan and the United States of America Concerning the Ryukyu Islands and the Daito Islands that entered into force in 1972.

China’s claim

• 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.

What next?

• The Senkaku/Diaoyu issue highlights the more robust attitude China has been taking to its territorial claims in both the East China Sea, the South China Sea and also on the Indian side.

Other border disputes of China

• It has island and maritime border disputes with Taiwan, Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines and Vietnam in the South China Sea and its extension.
• The disputes include islands, reefs, banks and other features in the South China Sea including Spratly Islands (with Vietnam, Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei, Taiwan), Paracel Islands (Vietnam), Scarborough Shoal (Philippines), and Gulf of Tonkin (Vietnam).