Two Miracles You Might Not However Acknowledge, Each
Historical Analysis on the Senkaku Islands (Ver. 22-0)
"尖閣列島問題の歴史的背景" (updated in June 2014)
(Please set the Encode in Page menu of your browser at Unicode to correctly read Kanji characters used below.)
First of all check the following map very carefully.
(The New York Times [and its stuff writer with the Chinese wife], taking an easy stance to support China having invaded Tibet, Central Asia, and the South China Sea, should see that the "Sakishima" Islands, including Yonaguni Island and the Yaeyama Islands, are also part of Okinawa Prefecture. Note that China and Taiwan have never made an objection to Japan's sovereignty over Yonaguni Island and the Yaeyama Islands where only Japanese have lived since the beginning of history).
The "Senkaku (尖閣)" Islands are closer to the Chinese Continent than to the main four Japanese islands on one of which Tokyo is situated; but the Senkaku Islands are far closer to Japan's Okinawa islands than to the Chinese Continent. The Senkaku Islands are clearly part of Okinawa Prefecture of Japan as the following map indicates.
(Click to enlarge)
Further, Japan is a large country in terms of the water area size of its exclusive economic zone (EEZ), and actually larger than China:
Japan has 4,479,358 square kilo-meters (km2) of EEZ in the oceans but China has only 877,019 km2. Japan, as the world 6th largest EEZ country, overwhelms China in terms of the size of its exclusive economic zones in oceans.
But, if you have any doubts on Japan's Senkaku, check the related history below presented. (And note that the New York Times attitude with full prejudice against Japan, an old enemy of China and the US in WWII, in terms of this Senkaku matter makes even Taiwan endangered before Chinese territorial aggression.)
http://kyodo.newsmart.jp/info/Result/2011/0120.php)
(It is said that Kuba-jima Island was more important than Uotsuri-jima for Okinawa fishermen. There is other island called Taisho-to in the Senkaku Islands, which is not included in the above map. Two small islands, close to each other, around Uostsuri-jima are called Minami-kojima and Kita-kojima. "Jima" and "to (pronounced as a 'toe')" in Japanese mean an island(s). The original form of "jima" is "shima," though. "Kojima" means a small island.)
The difficult part to understand is mostly between past China and past Okinawa rather than between present China and present Japan. Specifically, the Senkaku issue rests on relationships between the Ming and later the Ching (Qing) Dynasties and the Okinawa (Ryukyu) Kingdom which is however now Okinawa Prefecture, Japan, since Okinawa people are of the same race as Japanese in the main four islands of the Japanese Archipelago.
Now, the oldest human bones ever found and discovered in Okinawa Prefecture are of those who lived there 32,000 years ago and then of those who lived 18,000 years ago.
And, the first major empire of the Han Chinese, the Qin Dynasty lasting from 221 to 207 BC, had nothing to do with Korea, Manchuria, Mongolia, Central Asia, Tibet, even Sichuan, the region facing Taiwan without a need to mention Taiwan, and Hainan as well as Okinawa (Ryukyu) and the Senkaku Islands.
Then, the Qin Dynasty was replaced by the Han Dynasty, and the Far East 2000 years ago looked like below in a wider scope:
(Click to enlarge.)http://www.worldhistorymaps.info/images/East-Hem_001ad.jpg)
Specifically, around A.D.1, the Senkaku Islands must have been known to those who already started to live in the Okinawa Islands which were called Ryukyu in ancient days. The Han Dynasty in the Chinese Continent was busy looking to the west and the north. They were not a maritime tribe. The Han Chinese are from high lands northeast of the Tibetan Plateau. In their capital deep in the Chinese Continent, Chinese dynasties could not have strong motivation to occupy small islands far in the East China Sea where no strong enemies existed.
Now, the oldest record of Okinawa people visiting Japan's Imperial Court in Yamato (Nara), south of Kyoto, is of A.D. 714.
More clearly, a group of Japanese people with agriculture skills moved to Okinawa islands from Kyusyo, one of the four major islands of Japan (called Japan proper), as late as the 10th century. Since then, the Okinawa (Ryukyu) people moved around from the main Okinawa island to the Yaeyama Islands including Ishigaki Island, Iriomote Island, and Yonakuni Island.
They frequently sailed around the Senkaku Islands partly due to the ocean current flowing north from the Yaeyama Islands to Senkaku. As the above map clearly indicates, the Senkaku Islands are too far for fishermen living in coastal areas of mainland China, while Taiwan indigenous people had no skills or customs sailing around north on the East China Sea, before modernization.
(So, it is very absurd that China uses the specific Chinese name of Senkaku which means a fishing island, since fishermen in China could not sail 330 km or 200 miles in the East China Sea for fishing before the end of the Mao's era in 1970s. Chinese fishermen had no reason to sail so great distances from their shore only to fish around Senkaku in older days without a fishing boat with a modern engine.
The fact that China uses that stupid Chinese name for Japan's Senkaku Islands tells that Chinese have had nothing to do with Senkaku till they were taught the very existence of Senkaku in the East China Sea by Ryukyu people.)
1274: The Yuan Empire of China, a successor of Genghis Khan's Mongolian empire, launches war against Japan, for Japan governed by the Hojyo samurai clan refused to be subject to the Yuan emperor. So, Yuan of Mongolians dispatches 30,000 troops to Japan through the Korean Peninsula; they are however destroyed when landing on northern Kyusyu partly due to a typhoon called "kamikaze" and mostly due to courageous samurais. All the survivors of the Yuan troops fled back to the Chinese Continent over the sea.
1281: The Yuan Empire this time mobilizes 40,000 troops for a route from the Korean Peninsula and 100,000 troops for another route through the East China Sea to northern Kyusyu. They are however destroyed when landing on northern Kyusyu partly due to a typhoon called "kamikaze" and mostly due to courageous samurais. All the survivors of the Yuan troops fled back to the Chinese Continent over the sea.
(Some Chinese today claim that the Yuan Dynasty occupied the Senkaku Islands as its own territory. But, the fact seems only that the Yuan fleets carrying 100,000 troops just sailed over the East China Sea to Kyusyu of Japan. And only a few could sail back after the failure in invading Japan proper or mainland Japan that includes Kyusyu Island.)
The 14th Century: Japanese pirates called Wako intensify their activities attacking coastal areas of China facing the East China Sea as the figure below indicates.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wokou
(Accordingly, for a Chinese Dynasty, it became more important to defend its coastal areas, residents, and subjects living there than to set any ineffective or nominal border on the surface of the East China Sea. So, official maps a Chinese Dynasty would draw should show a defence line rather than a border on the sea.)
1368: The Ming Dynasty is established in China by the Hongwu Emperor.
1372: King of Okinawa (also called Ryukyu) Satto brings a tribute to the Ming Empire.
1401: The then samurai king of Japan (shogun) Ashikaga Yoshimitsu also sends an envoy to the Ming Dynasty to establish diplomatic relationships between Japan and Ming for benefits of trade.
1404: The Ming Court acknowledges Yoshimitsu as King of Japan who is allowed to trade with Ming in the form of bringing goods as tribute and receiving gifts in return. (However, the emperor of Japan [called Ten-no] has nothing to do with this diplomatic relationships. This title of King of Japan is not welcomed by noblemen around the emperor in Kyoto.)
To make clear the difference from the Japanese pirates, Japanese merchants authorized for the trade are obliged to carry a licence plate or a tally stick (called Kangofu) each.
Till 1640's when Ming is replaced by Ching, Japan sends official envoys for trade total 19 times to Ming.
1404: The Yongle Emperor of Ming authorizes King of Okinawa as his subject to allow trade with Ming.
Till 1866, the Ming and then the Ching Dynasties have sent envoys to Okinawa total 23 times for an Imperial investiture to attest successive Kings of Okinawa.
Till 1879, the Okinawa Kingdom has sent official envoys for trade total 173 times to the Ming Court and then total 68 times to the Ching Court.
(Accordingly, only based on this record, it is apparent Okinawa people acknowledged naval, navigational, and diplomatic importance of the Senkaku Islands more than Chinese officials who wrote a report or a book with a description about the Islands. As no Chinese moved to the Senkaku Islands and no Chinese empires proclaimed the ban of use of the Senkaku Islands to Okinawa people, they did not take any measures to record their monopolized use of the Senkaku sea area.)
1405: The Ming Court starts to send a series of seven naval expeditions led by Zheng He (Tei-wa in Japanese) to reach Indochina, Indonesia, India, Iran, the Arabian Peninsula, and Somalia of East Africa. This naval project has continued till 1433. However, this historical voyage is not intended to directly occupy overseas territory but to persuade overseas nations to bring a tribute to the emperor of Ming like in the case of the Kingdom of Okinawa.
1534: An imperial envoy from the Ming Court called Chin-Kan (so called in Japanese, [陳侃]) writes an official report called Shi-Ryukyu--Roku (in Japanese, [使琉球録]) where he mentions some islands that are identified as part of the Senkaku Islands.
In this report, Chin-Kan describes that it was after his ship with Okinawa people on board (returning to mainland Okinawa) passed an island which was closer to mainland Okinawa than the Senkaku Islands that the Okinawa people showed great relief, as if they had returned to their home territory through a long and dangerous voyage.
(So, China today claims that Okinawa people did not regard the Senkaku Islands as being within their territory, since Okinawa people did not show great relief when they saw the Senkaku Islands.
But, it is a very subjective remark and personal judgment by the envoy Chin-Kan himself. He was neither an emperor nor a minister with any authority to define the territory of the Ming Empire.
Besides, there are no descriptions in Chin-Kan's report that Chinese fishermen were fishing around the Senkaku Islands, since the islands are more than 400 km far from the shore of China. Who would sail 400 km for fishing in the 16th century while there were many fishing places nearby?)
1561: A high-ranking officer of the Ming Dynasty, called Kaku-Jyo-Rin (in Japanese pronounciation, [郭汝霖]), writes an address, as shown below, to the imperial throne in which he describes one island of the Senkaku Islands, called Sekisyo (in Japanese for "赤嶼" which is today called Taisyo-to [大正島] in Japan but "赤尾嶼" in China meaning a red-tail island), as belonging to the Ryukyu Kingdom. So, he officially recognizes the Senkaku Islands as a territory of Rykyu (Okinawa).
1562: When Kaku-Jyo-Rin [郭汝霖] becomes an imperial envoy from the Ming Court to Ryukyu, he also writes a report ([重編使琉球録]) to the Ming court in which he mentions some islands that are identified as part of the Senkaku Islands in his official report. Kaku expresses the Senkaku Islands as a kind of border for the Ming Empire.
(So, China today claims that the Senkaku Islands were regarded as border islands on their side by the Ming Dynasty.
However, without officially recognizing the Senkaku Islands as their own, any Ming's envoy would mention the Islands in a report as a place critical to take note of for the defence. Especially, the Ming's defense was not against a subject kingdom of Okinawa but Japanese pirates. What was needed to be described is not a border but a defence line as it was described.
Before Ming's envoys first encountered the Senkaku Islands, Okinawa people had been sailing around the Islands, since they were great voyagers as far as to Japan proper and South East Asia.)
1562: Admiral Hu Zongxian or Ko-Sou-Ken (in Japanese, [胡宗憲]) of Ming issues a now-famous map called Cyu-Kai-Zu (in Japanese, [籌海図編]) prepared by scholar Tei-Jyaku-So (in Japanese, [鄭若曽]) where a sea area including the Senkaku Islands is specified as a kind of national defence line for Ming.
(http://www.geocities.jp/tanaka_kunitaka/senkaku/chokaizuhen-1562/ )The full view of this map is as follows:
(So, China today claims that the Senkaku Islands were regarded as border islands on their side by Ming.
However, in this map, an island, called Kei-Ko-San (in Japanese, [鶏籠山]) then regarded as belonging to Taiwan by the Ming Court in Beijing is also put down.
Accordingly, Japanese experts claim that this map does not exclusively include islands within the territory of Ming, since Taiwan then did not belong to the Ming Empire. Especially, the Ming's defense was not against a subject kingdom of Okinawa but Japanese pirates. What was needed to be described is not a border but a defence line as it was described.
The very rough map simply told that Ming officials came to know the Senkaku Islands through their diplomatic relationships with the Kingdom of Okinawa who would have never made an objection even if Ming's map had depicted the Senkaku Islands as if they had belonged to Ming, since Okinawa was diplomatically subject to mighty Ming at the time.
Otherwise, why should Ming's officials have had to sail 400 km off the continent to check the non-disputed Islands between mighty Ming and peace-loving Okinawa? As the Senkaku Islands are situated just 190 km to the nearest Okinawa island, it is rather assumed that Ming officials virtually tried to unlawfully take the Senkaku Islands from Okinawa. The map is useless before the right interpretation of history.)
Also, in the Map of Ryukyu (琉球図説) prepared by Tei-Jyaku-So (in Japanese, [鄭若曽]), Uotsuri-jima or Senkaku is placed within the territory of the Kingdom of Ryuku as shown below.
http://archive.wul.waseda.ac.jp/kosho/ru04/ru04_04709/ru04_04709_0001/ru04_04709_0001.pdf
http://blogs.yahoo.co.jp/kouekituuhousien/64015949.html
1592 and 1598: The then samurai ruler of Japan Toyotomi Hideyoshi launches war with the Ming (partly because Ming treated Hideyoshi as subject King of Japan and proud Hideyoshi got angry), taking a route to Beijing through the Korean Peninsula, though this campaign with 100,000 and more samurai troops were terminated due to death of Hideyoshi of illness.
The Kingdom Okinawa joined this Hideyoshi's campaign on the logistics side.
1609: Samurai lord Shimazu in southern Kyusyu of Japan proper invaded Okinawa with 3000 samurai troops to establish its occupancy in the Okinawa (Ryukyu) islands. The king of Okinawa however is allowed to survive as a subject to the Shimazu clan who is a subject of the samurai king (shogun) Tokugawa in Edo (Tokyo).
Since then, the Kingdom Okinawa was subject to both the Ming Court of China and the Shimazu clan of Japan.
1614: A regional official document of Jyugen (in Japanese, [壽源県志]) prefecture of the Ming is issued but does not include the Senkaku Islands as part of its territory, while Jyugen prefecture could cover the sea area near the Senkaku Islands as its administrative territory.
1644: The Ming Dynasty of the Han Chinese collapsed; the Ching Dynasty of Manchu was established in mainland China. As Manchu is traditionally from Manchuria or currently the north east region of China, the Ching Court in Beijing abolished or changed many Han customs and ways of administration.
1683: The Ching Dynasty officially takes Taiwan into its territory.
1684: The Ching Dynasty releases an official document ([福建通志]) on Fujian Province facing the East China Sea. In this document, the Senkaku Islands are not included in the administrative region of the Fujian Province government.
1717: An official document of Shora (in Japanese, [諸羅県志]) prefecture of Taiwan Province is released to define the north border of Taiwan at Dai-Kei-Ko-San (in Japanese) Island which is in the south of the Senkaku Islands.
1718: An official document ([寧徳県志]) of Neitoku (in Japanese) Prefecture of Fujian Province is released but does not include the Senkaku Islands as part of its territory, while Neitoku prefecture could cover the sea area near the Senkaku Islands as its administrative territory.
1765: The Taiwan local government issues an official document called Zoku-Syudai-Taiwan-Fushi (in Japanese, [続修台湾府志]) where the north border of Taiwan is set at Dai-Kei-Ko-San (in Japanese, [大鶏籠山]) Island which is in the south of the Senkaku Islands.
1838: The Ching Court issues an official document ([重纂福建通志福建海防全図]) with an attached map named the Fujian Naval Defence General Map in which however the Senkaku Islands are not included.
1840: The Taiwan local government issues an official document called the Taiwan 17 Country Defencce Status ([台湾道姚瑩稟奏台湾十七国設防状]) where the north border of Taiwan is set at Dai-Kei-Ko-San (in Japanese, [大鶏籠山]) Island which is in the south of the Senkaku Islands.
1868: The Tokugawa samurai regime fell in Japan. Samurais against the Tokugawa clan forms new government with the emperor at the political core of the nation Japan. Accordingly, all the samurai lords and clans in Japan, including Shimazu in southern Kyusyu with Okinawa belong to the new government in Tokyo.
1871:An water administration agency of the Taiwan local government issues an official document ([淡水庁志]) called the Tansuichou-shi (in Japanese) where the north border of the sea territory of Taiwan is set at Dai-Kei-Ko-San (in Japanese, [大鶏籠山]) Island which is in the south of the Senkaku Islands.
1879: The Empire of Japan changes status of the Kingdom of Okinawa into Okinawa Prefecture of the Empire.
1884: Tatsushiro Koga, a resident in Naha City of Okinawa, explored the Senkau Islands for possible business.
1885: Tatsushiro Koga files an application to the Government in Tokyo for approval of his landing on the Senkaku Islands to cultivate them. The then Okinawa governor also requests the Imperial Government of Japan to declare territorial jurisdiction over the Senkaku Islands. However the Government in Tokyo does not approve it, since it is unclear whether or not the Senkaku Islands does not belong to Ching or any other sovereignty. Yet, the then Interior Ministry in Tokyo rules that the Okinawa governor may set a land mark indicating occupancy of the Empire of Japan in the Senkaku Islands after the prefectural government confirms the state of the Islands as no man's land.
1894: The Japan-Sino War erupts.
1895: On January 14, the Empire of Japan takes the Senkaku Islands into its territory after investigations of the state of the Islands.
Tatsushiro Koga starts his business to build a factory to process fish in the Senkaku Islands. His business continues till 1940 or so with 200 or so empolyees and their families living in the Islands. This is the first record of residence and business performed on the Senkaku Islands in the known history of Japan, China, and Taiwan.
(http://blogs.yahoo.co.jp/sort5694/27782511.html
Japanese developer Koga with a rifle in his hand surrounded by his employees in Uotsuri-jima Island of the Senkaku Islands.http://senkakusyashintizu.web.fc2.com/page053.html)
http://blogs.yahoo.co.jp/kouekituuhousien/64015949.html
1895: The Japan-Sino War ends with victory of the Empire of Japan. The Empire and the Ching Dynasty conclude the Treaty of Shimonoseki on April 17. Taiwan is transferred to the Empire, according to the Treaty. However, it does not mention the Senkaku Islands (as the Ching Court has already admitted the Islands as Japan's).
1920: A fishing boat with 31 fishers on board from Fujian Province, the Republic of China, gets wrecked around the Senkaku Islands in 1919. But, they are rescued by Okinawa people. So, the diplomatic office of the Republic of China in Nagasaki, Japan, issues a letter of appreciation to Japanese people concerned in 1920. In the letter, the Chinese consul clearly writes the place concerned as the Senkaku Islands of Yaeyama County, Okinawa, as below indicated.
1941: The Empire of Japan embarks in a war with the United Sates, which constitutes the Pacific Stage of WWII.
1945: The Empire of Japan surrenders to the United Sates who occupies whole Japan, including Okinawa Prefecture and its Senkaku Islands.
1947: The new Constitution of Japan is enforced to replace the Imperial Constitution.
1949: The Chinese Communist Party takes over the Chinese Continent through the Chinese Civil War in 1949 to build the People's Republic of China; accordingly the Chinese Nationalist Party moves to Taiwan to build the Republic of China.
1951: Occupation of Japan by the U.S. ends with conclusion of the Peace Treaty signed in San Francisco. However, Okinawa Prefecture, including its Senkaku Islands, is still kept under administration of the United States.
1953: On January 8, the People's Daily published by the Chinese Communist Party presents documentary material to explain a state of Okinawa and an American policy on Okinawa where the Senkaku Islands are clearly stated as belonging to Okinawa Prefecture.
(Click to enlarge.)http://www.jcp.or.jp/seisaku/2010/20101004_senkaku_rekisii/19530108_jn.jpg
1968: A committee for Far-East economy of the United Nations explores the East China Sea to find great reserves of crude oil.
1971: In April, Taiwan starts to claim its territorial jurisdiction on the Senkaku Islands.
In December, China starts to claim its territorial jurisdiction on the Senkaku Islands.
1972: On May 15, the U.S. returns administrative right of Okinawa Prefecture, including the Senkaku Islands, to the Japanese Government in Tokyo.
1972: On September 27, to establish diplomatic relationships between the two nations, Prime Minister of Japan Kakuei Tanaka talks with Chinese Premier Chou En-lai in Beijing. Tanaka raises the issue of the Senkaku Islands, but Chou does not follow it:
Tanaka: What do you think about the Senkaku Islands? Some people came to me for this issue, with various opinions.
Chou: I do not want to discuss the Senkaku Islands issue on this occasion. It is not good to talk about the the Senkaku Islands. As crude oil was discovered around the Islands, this issue has surfaced. Without crude oil there, anybody, including Taiwan and America, would take no notice of the Senkaku Islands. How many months will it take to appoint and send ambassadors to each other?
Ohira: We will take necessary measures as soon as possible, but it is impossible to specify in the joint communique the number of months within which we are to send ambassadors to each other...
(http://www.ioc.u-tokyo.ac.jp/~worldjpn/documents/indices/JPCH/index2.html )
(If Chou En-lai had had compelling evidence on China's right on the Senkaku Islands any Japanese would admit, he should have been able to simply show it to Japanese politicians, including Japan's P.M. Kakuei Tanaka and F.M. Masayoshi Ohira, even if on a private basis.)
http://plaza.rakuten.co.jp/anan8888/diary/200809290000/
1989: The so-called Tiananmen massacre occurs in Beijing where many students in demonstrations requesting democracy are attacked and arrested by the Chinese military and police.
After this incident, the Chinese Communist Government starts to educate Chinese children and students following an anti-Japanese policy. The Chinese leaders decide to present Japan as an enemy for students to attack. Students with any complaints to the Chinese Communist Party are not allowed to criticize the Party but encouraged to direct their anger to Japan.
2010: In the wake of violation of Japan's territorial water and the Japan-China agreement on fishing around the Senkaku Islands by a Chinese illegal trawler whose skipper is arrested on September 7, 2010, but released by the Japanese Government, the U.S. Government confirms that the Japan-U.S. Security Arrangements apply to the Senkaku Islands.
In summary, no past documents and maps officially published in China in these 500 years do not state that the Senkaku Islands belong to China.
Rather, some such documents clearly exclude the Senkaku Islands from a relevant administrative territory of a publishing local government.
But, from the beginning, a Chinese empire had no clear distinction between administrative areas of the empire and tributary nations and between its defence line and its border. If people who belonged to an empire had lived in a certain place and there had been a need to protect them by force, the place would be regarded as its territory.
In neither this traditional context nor a modern concept, China has never established its territorial jurisdiction on the Senkaku Islands. Therefore, though the Islands are so far from Japan proper, they belong to Japan, since they were a familiar place for Japanese envoys and Okinawa envoys sailing to and back from China passing the Islands far more often than Chinese envoys did since 1372.
Now you know why the Senkaku Islands do not belong to China and Taiwan even when judging based on the Chinese claims. But, how do the Islands belong to Japan?
It is because the Senkaku Islands belong to Okinawa (Ryukyu). There is an island called Ishigaki-jima (the main island of the Yaeyama Islnads) where Okinawa residents or fishermen have lived from ancient days. And, there is a strong ocean stream from Ishigaki-jima Island to the Senkaku Islands. Fishermen in Ishigaki can easily reach around Senkaku to do their business. It is reflected in some old songs or stories of Okinawa.
In addition, the Chinese name of the Senkaku Islands meaning an island to angle for fish is reasonably thought to come after an old calling of the Islands by Okinawa/Ishigaki people. Okinawa people call the main island of the Senkaku Islands "Yoko"-jima (meaning a side island), or once called "Tsure"-jima, meaning an accompanying island the sound of which is similar to "tsuri" which is also similar to "tsuru" in Japanese, meaning angling for fish. There is no such material as to more reasonably expalian the origin of the Chinese name of the Islands meaning an island to angle for fish.
Put simply, the Senkaku Islands issue is not the one between Tokyo, the Senkaku Islands, and Shanghai but between the Yaeyama Islands, the Senkaku Islands, and Beijing. Check the map again!
ATTACHMENT I: China Admitted Japan's Senkaku in 1960
Some people in the world, including Americans, Chinese, Taiwanese, South/North Koreans, Russians, South East Asians, and Japanese nowadays seem to come to realize that the Senkaku Islands belong to Japan.
So, let's enjoy the confirmation!
(Click to enlarge.)As a special point to notice, the Beijing City Authority published a map indicating the Senkaku Islands as part of Japan in 1960. But, today, some Chinese are searching for this map to destroy it.
Some Chinese frequently visit book towns in Tokyo, looking for this map. Whenever they find it in an antiquarian bookshop, they buy it no matter how high the price tag is. They look like working under instruction of the Chinese Communist Government.
The portion of the map indicating the Senkaku Islands as part of Japan is as follows:
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Japanese government — assert the foundation for Japan's territorial dominion over the Senkaku Islands!
TAKAHANA Yutaka
Chairman, TEIKEI Inc.
...To begin with, both China and Taiwan have acknowledged the fact that the Senkaku Islands are Japanese territory. Under international law regarding "uninhabited remote territories" (the granting of dominion to countries with exclusive possession of lands that have no occupants), a cabinet decision on Jan. 14, 1895, assigned the five islands — including Uotsuri Jima — and three reefs that make up the Senkaku Islands to the prefecture of Okinawa as a result of a ten-year investigation there. Maps of every nation, and text books in China, acknowledged publicly that they were Japanese territory...
Instead of using the Chinese name of the island, Diaoyu Dao (釣魚島), the name is printed in the original Japanese as Uotsuri Jima (魚釣島). A line is drawn between Yonaguni Island and Taiwan in accordance with UN Convention on the Law of the Sea....
(Click to enlarge.)http://www.sdh-fact.com/CL02_1/53_S4.pdf
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Note: The Chinese expression Diaoyu Dao (釣魚島) is pronounced as "Cho-gyo Tou (jima)" in Japanese today.
ATTACHMENT II: Chinese Name of Senkaku (Modified Japanese Calling)
The Chinese name and kanji expression of the Senkaku Islands is from an old calling of the main island of the Islands by old Okinawa people, according to a Japanese researcher.
The kanji expression in the Item 5 in the following figure is the the Chinese name and kanji expression of the Senkaku Islands which was derived from the original Okinawa expression through the steps.
Ref: http://senkakujapan.jugem.jp/?eid=8)
Chinese can speak English more easily than Japanese do, since the verb-object sequence is the same between the Chinese and English languages.
But, in Japanese, an object always follows a verb.
And, 500 years ago, Chinese fishermen living on the coastal areas of the Chinese Continent had no reason to sail to the Senkaku Islands 400 km (250 miles) off the shore to catch fish, risking their lives.
Only imperial envoys Chinese emperors sent would dare to sail 700 Km (438 miles) across the East China Sea to the main island of the Kingdom of Okinawa 500 years ago.
But, Okinawa people at the time were already sailing all over the Okinawa (Ryukyu) Islands that stretched over 800 Km. And, the nearest big Okinawa island to the Senkaku Islands is located just 190 Km (102 miles) away. They were really fishing around the Senkaku Islands 500 years ago.
It is also unthinkable that Okinawa People took the Chinese name of the Islands, meaning "angling for fish" as their own, too. It is more unthinkable that they took the Chinese name of the Islands, meaning "angling for fish" through changing the word order.
Therefore, a Chinese imperial envoy who dared to sail to the Kingdom of Okinawa, a tributary nation of the Ming Dynasty, for a diplomatic reason in the 16th century, must have adopted the Okinawa people's calling "Tsuri"-shima, namely an "angling" island. But, no Chinese fishermen could and would go and catch fish around the Senkaku Islands 400 km (250 miles) off the shore 500 years ago, since it was a dangerous voyage even for a Chinese imperial envoy using a big ship.
In addition, the concept of a border for a Chinese classic empire was different from the one for us, the modern people of today.
As the Kingdom of Okinawa was a tributary nation, the Ming Dynasty and later the Ching Dynasty had no need to define a border on the sea where any of their subjects lived. Ming and Ching had to protect their people from notorious Japanese pirates who ignored any border, if any, on the East China Sea. Okinawa never made war against its master empire in China. Naval security needed maps and definition of administrative/defence zones on the Chinese side, but it was not for claiming its border to its subject nation Okinawa.
If an emperor of Ming or Ching had pronounced its occupancy of the Senkaku Islands (or the "Cho-gyo-dai" Islands in Japanese for today's Chinese name of the Senkaku Islands) on the king of Okinawa, the king would have simply accepted it. But, there was even no such a need in the classic world of East Asia.
Finally, Okinawa was forced to officially belong to a Japanese samurai clan whose territory included islands north of the Okinawa Islands officially in 1611. The samurai clan Shimazu also belonged to Tokugawa shogunate in Edo (Tokyo). So, Okinawa was subject to both Japan and China nominally till the end of the Japan-Sino War in 1895, 27 years after the fall of the Tokugawa regime and the restoration of the imperial authority in Japan of 1868.
So, the "Uo-tsuri"-jima Island and other Senkaku islands have always belonged to Okinawa that belongs to Japan since 1611 (or since Okinawa people's ancestors' descending to the south from Japan proper thousands of years ago from a racial point of view, since the Okinawa language is one of dialects of the Japanese language, though very unique).
ATTACHMENT III: Treaty of Peace and Friendship between Japan and China
First of all, look at the map below that shows China's plan to expand its naval deployment and establish hegemony in the West Pacific region.
(Click to enlarge.)China has declared officially that it will have its naval fleets deployed from the west of Hawaii to the north of Australia, suppressing South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Indonesia.
Yet, as I introduced yesterday, the following is the pledge and the promise China made when Japan and China concluded "Treaty of Peace and Friendship between Japan and the People's Republic of China." Based on this treaty, Japan started lucrative provision of great financial and technological aid to China:
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Treaty of Peace and Friendship between Japan and the People's Republic of China----------------
August 12, 1978
[Article II]
The contracting Parties declare that neither of them should seek hegemony in the Asia-Pacific region or in any other region and that each is opposed to efforts by any other country or group of countries to establish such hegemony.
...
http://www.ioc.u-tokyo.ac.jp/~worldjpn/documents/texts/docs/19780812.T1E.html
But, China continued to build large-scale military capability, by increasing its military budget scores of times.
So, all the Japanese know that China is a liar and a betrayer. Whatever China officially announces, the Japanese people first doubt and suspect its truthfulness. The point is how many percentages China embeds truth in its official announcement and data, which is Japanese commonsense. It is also commonsense of Americans doing fair business in China.
But, the American media elite lack this ability to doubt and suspect credibility of Chinese announcements and data.
When China first said that Japan Coast Guard ships violently hit a Chinese fishing boat around China's Senkaku Islands on September 7, 2010, the American media elite should have first thought that truth must have been Japan Coast Guard ships were violently hit by a Chinese fishing boat around Japan's Senkaku Islands.
Now, will the American media elite attend the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony to be held in Norway?
Anyway, let's confirm the lie the Chinese Communist Government tried to disseminate to the world, while the Japanese Government has refrained from making public the video showing violent actions of the Chinese fishing boat out of regard of honor of China.
The following is a false and malicious illustration of the so called "collision" or an attack by Japanese maritime agency ships on a Chinese fishing boat. The illustration was authorized and made public to the world by the Chinese Government trying to have Japan lose face:
Liars in the Chinese Communist Government can always find friends in The New York Times. This is a lesson we have to learn.
Anyway, truth around Japan's Senkaku Islands on September 7, 2010 is:
(The blue ship putting the helm to port is of course the Chinese fishing boat. A Japan Coast Guard official on board the patrol ship being rammed took the video while being in danger of falling into the sea, though within the Japanese sea territory.)The video clip about this aggression by the Chinese fishing boat in Japan's Senkaku territory was made public by a maritime safety official and the LDP:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IU_aXcmV-lQ&feature=relmfu
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTguzW2FzaY&feature=relmfu
ATTACHMENT IV: Provisional Fishing Waters between Japan and China
ATTACHMENT V: Japan'S Defense on East China Sea
The Japanese Government stations the Ground Self-Defense Forces (Army), the Maritime Self-Defense Forces (Navy), and Air Self-Defense Forces (Air Forces) in islands that constitute Okinawa Prefecture between the East China Sea and the Pacific Ocean.
If armed Chinese airplanes, ships, or personnel violated the Japanese territory, including the Senkaku Islands, those Defense Forces shall be engaged in any military actions with invading Chinese, which the Japanese Constitution approves as long as it does not develop to a state of war initiated by Japan for agression.
According to The Yomiuri Shimbun of Japan, the defense condition is now being reviewed in the Ministry of Defense.
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The Defense Ministry plans to establish a new military unit to bolster this nation's ability to monitor the Chinese Navy, which has been increasingly active in waters off Japanese territories, The Yomiuri Shimbun has learned.
A ministry official said the unit will consist of about 200 Ground Self-Defense Force personnel and most likely be based on Yonagunijima, Okinawa Prefecture, this country's westernmost island.
(Nov. 10, 2010)
(The islands named in the above maps are all Japanese ones.)http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/T101109005292.htm
http://sankei.jp.msn.com/affairs/photos/111013/crm11101319590021-p1.htm
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The Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force (Navy) is going to introduce a 24,000-ton class helicopter carrier(s) named 22DDH/cruiser(s) in addition to the incumbent 10,000-ton class named the Hyuga-class solely for defense purposes of its territory.
http://shinoper.iza.ne.jp/blog/entry/1687447/
In the picture above, the ship in a foreground is a Hyuga and the one (imagenary) in a background is a 22DDH. These Naval ships are not for war, since the Japanese Constitution forbids the Government to start war. They are for mainly domestic and international aid and rescue or peace-keeping operation in addition to for execution of an inherent national right of territorial defense.
China, Russia, and South Korea should withdraw their military forces from Japanese territories in the Senkaku Islands in the South China Sea, South Kurile Islands (Northern Territory of Japan) in the North Pacific, and Takeshima Island in the Sea of Japan.
ATTACHMENT VI: LINKS FOR REFERENCE
http://eereporter.blogspot.com/2010_11_07_archive.html
http://eereporter.blogspot.com/2010/11/confound-language-of-all-earth.html
http://eereporter.blogspot.com/2010/11/mar-1117-and-he-taught-saying-unto-them.html
http://eereporter.blogspot.com/2010_11_21_archive.html
http://eereporter.blogspot.com/2010/12/intending-after-easter-to-bring-him.html
http://eereporter.blogspot.com/2010/12/whose-voice-then-shook-earth.html
ATTACHMENT VII: China Wants Gas/Oil Fields around Senkaku
In late 1960's, a UN organization explored the East China Sea to find great oil/natural gas fields under the sea between Japan and China.
Then, suddenly China started to claim that the Senkaku Islands are their own defying the internationally recognized Japan's sovereignty over the Islands.
And, 40 years later, The New York Times suddenly posted an article that supported China's claim, though it never made such a mistake in the eras of the Vietnam War and the Cold War.
It is apparent that China planned and carried out a stratagem to brainwash some elite Americans in these years with dollars they earned by selling commodities to Wal-Mart.
http://d.hatena.ne.jp/navi-area26-10/20110309/p3)
http://www.h2.dion.ne.jp/~mogiseka/article/080622east_china_sea.html)
(The red line is the middle point between territorial seas of Japan and China; The brown areas are under-sea gas fields China has been developing without consent from Japan.)
Finally, let's check where Chinese oil/gas resources lie.
ATTACHMENT VIII: Chinese Invasion of the South China Sea
China is also trying to unlawfully get crude oil/natural gas in the South China Sea.
The New York Times should learn how violently China has suppressed the Philippines and other countries surrounding the South China Sea. China has no intention to have a talk but have full intention to use its military power to take any part of territory of other nations. If you look at the map below showing the Chinese aggressive claim on the South China Sea, you will really doubt the sanity of the Chinese Government.
The New York Times should learn how violently China has suppressed the Philippines and other countries surrounding the South China Sea. China has no intention to have a talk but have full intention to use its military power to take any part of territory of other nations. If you look at the map below showing the Chinese aggressive claim on the South China Sea, you will really doubt the sanity of the Chinese Government.
http://falcons.blog95.fc2.com/blog-entry-649.html
The Senakaku invasion and the South China Sea invasion are from the same aggressive Chinese policy.
Specifically, China is exercising military power violently in this area. How can The New York Times support this inclination of the Chinese Communist Government to using violence at any time possible against less militarily equipped countries. China even challenges Japan (and ultimately the US) in the East China Sea. How can The New York Times support this inclination of the Chinese Communist Government?
The second set of incidents related to the Paracel Islands. In July 2007, Chinese naval patrol vessels fired on a Vietnamese fishing boat, killing one sailor; in August 2007, China announced plans to begin tourist cruises to the Paracels, leading Vietnam to reaffirm its sovereignty claims over the archipelago; and in November Vietnam protested Chinese military exercises in the Paracels.
ATTACHMENT IX: Chinese Aggression on Taiwan
One of leading Japanese conservative critics Ms. Yoshiko Sakurai analyzed the situation covering China, Taiwan, and Japan, since China broke a diplomatic promise with Japan concerning gas fields in the East China Sea.
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Needed: Scrunity Over Crucial Security Matters Hidden behind the Senkaku and Gas Field Issues-----------------
...In case of a contingency in the South China Sea, it will become mandatory for China’s North Sea Fleet and East Sea Fleet to sail southward via the Strait of Taiwan. Meanwhile, if an emergency develops in the East China Sea or the Yellow Sea, the South Sea Fleet must also pass through the Strait of Taiwan as it sails northward. Controlling Taiwan is therefore seen by the Chinese as an overriding necessity. And it would seem logical to presume that China’s increased dominance over Taiwan will be pursued concurrently with a strategy to restrain Japan’s activities in the East China Sea, thereby increasing Chinese control over the entire land and sea of the East Asian region. Again, it is precisely for this reason that Japan should not readily give in to China in the East China Sea...
http://yoshiko-sakurai.jp/index.php/2010/10/20/needed-scrunity-over-crucial-security-matters-hidden-behind-the-senkaku-and-gas-field-issues/
You had better take note of the following points:
1) Chinese troops will not try to land on Taiwan until China succeeds in occupying Japan's Senkaku Islands 170 km northeast of Taiwan.
2) Chinese troops will not try to land on Taiwan until the Chinese Navy secures sea routes surrounding Taiwan, from the Senkkau Islands to the Luzon strait.
3) The Chinese Navy wants to secure a sea route off the east coast of Taiwan to reach the South China Sea in case that the the route between the Continent and Taiwan gets under tension running high. On this eastern route, the Senkaku Islands occupies a key location for Chinese fleets to sail round the north tip of Taiwan to the Pacific.
4) For the Chinese Navy to freely move its fleets to the north as far as the Sea of Japan and as south as the Straits of Malacca, it needs to secure sea routes surrounding Taiwan where the Senkaku Islands occupies a key location.
5) If the Taiwan people see Chinese fleets freely sailing and operating on the north, east, south, and west seas off its coasts, they will feel so insecure, isolated, and abandoned. In the case, China can start landing operations on Taiwan at any time, though millions of Taiwanese would try to flee to America and Japan.
Accordingly, as long as Japan is determined to defend the Senkaku Islands from invading Chinese forces, the Chinese Communist leaders in Beijing would not order their troops to venture into Taiwan.
The importance of Japan's Senkaku Islands and Ishigaki-jima Island for Taiwan's security being threatened by the Chinese Navy.
Air Force Bases of Taiwan
Major Naval Bases of China, Japan, and America
It is also interesting to see that as of 1970, the Japanese public did not think that China could lawfully claim any territory around the Senkaku Islands, while Taiwan and South Korea claimed each a vast sea territory in the East China Sea at the time.
Now you can see how important the Senkaku Islands and the Ishigaki-jima Island are for security of Taiwan.
Territorial Claims in the East China Sea by Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and China.
ATTACHMENT X: Japanese ODA to China
It is Japan that has provided a huge amount of money for China when GDP of China is half of today's GDP.
Japanese ODA to China has been provided all through 1980's, 1990's, and 2000's to date. In addition, Japanese technology has been transferred to China while 2,8000 Japanese businesses, including Toyota, have moved partially or wholly their operation to China. Though it is mostly to utilize cheap labor in China, Japan has given enough to China. In return China started to diffuse a false claim to the world, especially to The New York Times, that the Senkaku Islands are their own and undersea oil fields in the East China Sea are their own.
Now, as I wrote on April 30, 2010, specifically, the following records of the Japanese ODA to China should be kept in mind:
The Shanghai Airport was built with $450 million ODA provided by Japan in 1999.
(Wikipedia: "The airport was significantly funded by a 40-billion-yen (~450 million USD) Official Development Assistance (ODA) from Japan."http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanghai_Pudong_International_Airport )
The Beijing Airport was built with $330 million public aid from Japan, which accounted for 25% of the total $1.3 billion costs of the airport construction in 1999.
(Wikipedia: "The airport's 1999 extension (Construction of Terminal 2) was financed by ODA (Low interest loan) provided by the Japanese government"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beijing_Capital_International_Airport )
The Beijing Subway System No.2 was built with $220 million ODA from Japan, which accounted for 22% of the total $1 billion costs of the Subway system construction in 1999, while the Subway System No.1 was extended with $170 million ODA from Japan in 1991.
(Wikipedia: "On January 26, 1991, planning began on the eastward extension of Line 1 under Chang’an Avenue from Fuxingmen with the receipt of 19.2 billion yen low-interest, development assistance loan from Japan."http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beijing_Subway )
After WWII, especially, after restoring relationship with China in 1970's, Japan donated, provided, and offered a huge amount of money to China, which the Chinese Government seldom made public to the Chinese citizens (which is why you should not blindly believe what the Chinese Communist Party says about Nanjing of 1937...):
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Japanese Loan to ChinaReutersPublished: March 21, 1991
TOKYO, March 20— Japan released $318 million last week in aid to China, the Japanese Foreign Ministry said in a statement. The loan, which was signed on Friday in Beijing, is part of a five-year, $5.95 billion package of Japanese aid to China. Similar amounts were released in November and December. The latest loan bears interest of 2.5 percent and the repayment period is 30 years, including a 10-year grace period. The money will finance the construction of roads, railroads, airports and utilities, the statement said.
http://www.nytimes.com/1991/03/21/business/japanese-loan-to-china.html?pagewanted=1
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Until fiscal 2000, Japan provided $2.2 billion of ODA for China, which was used for nine projects to construct express highways over 1200 km (700 miles).
Japan also provided $550 million for China's expressway construction through the Export-Import Bank of Japan.
While China was not an economic power admired by Wall Street, Japan provided total $30 billion aid to China through 1970's, 1980's, 1990's, and even 2000's.
(http://www2s.biglobe.ne.jp/~nippon/jogbd_h12/jog146.html )
China should not have its Naval fleet sail around the Japanese islands, foolishly and childishly trying to threaten Japan and the U.S. as it did recently.
Even in 1920's and 1930's, the Empire of Japan helped build various modern infrastructures in and around Shanghai, though the Imperial Army and Navy fought back against invading Chinese troops, numerically several times larger, sacrificing some city facilities.http://eereporter.blogspot.com/2010/04/i-have-meat-to-eat-that-ye-know-not-of.html
I also wrote about the same theme on February 16, 2011:
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In 1980's and 1990's when China's GDP was 10 to 20% of today's amount, it received total more than $30 billion aid in the form yen-denominated government credits from Japan. China was also granted another $30 billion loan from Japan through the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (at a very low interest rate and a very long redemption period).
In those years, money from Japan accounted for 10% or so China's national budget for public work, in my humble calculation.
Even in 2009, the Japanese Government provided $50 million ODA for China who never made it public to the Chinese people!
The Chinese Communist Government has made no efforts to let its people know this long history of the Japanese financial and technological aid. Beijing does not want Chinese citizens to become friendly toward the Japanese people, since they will find that they have been told unthinkable lies by their Government for so long after WWII. Yet, some Americans have at least come to take note of this weird relationship.
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20071201231648AALUGM3
More specifically, according to official data and records in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan:
Overview of Official Development Assistance (ODA) to China
June 2005
Official Development Assistance (ODA) to China began in 1979 and from that time to the present, approximately 3.1331 trillion yen in loan aid (yen loans), 145.7 billion yen in grant aid, and 144.6 billion yen in technical cooperation have been implemented.
Airports
Shanghai Pudong International Airport Construction Project (40.0 billion yen)
Beijing Capital Airport Terminal Area Expansion Project (30.0 billion yen)
Lanzhou Zhongchuan Airport Expansion Project (6.3 billion yen)
Wuhan Tianhe Aerodrome Construction Project (6.3 billion yen)
Xi'an Xianyang International Airport Terminal Expansion Project (3.09 billion yen)
Cumulative total of aid in this area excluding the above-mentioned projects: 111.6 billion yen
Railway Lines
Beijing-Qinhuangdao Railway Expansion Project (87.0 billion yen)
Guiyang-Loudi Railway Construction Project (30.0 billion yen)
Chongqing Urban Railway Construction Project (27.1 billion yen)
Beijing Subway Construction Project (19.7 billion yen)
Datong-Qinhuangdao Railway Construction Project (18.4 billion yen)
Cumulative total of aid in this area excluding the above-mentioned projects: 641.8 billion yen
Roads
Hangzhou-Quzhou Expressway Construction Project (30.0 billion yen)
Liangping-Changshou Highway Construction Project (24.0 billion yen)
Xinxiang-Zhengzhou Highway Construction Project (23.5 billion yen)
Guiyang-Xinzhai Highway Construction Project (15.0 billion yen)
Heilongjiang Heihe-Beian Road Construction Project (12.6 billion yen)
Cumulative total of aid in this area excluding the above-mentioned projects: 195.1 billion yen
Seaports
Qinhuangdao Port Expansion Project (67.4 billion yen)
Qingdao Port Expansion Project (59.7 billion yen)
Huanghua Port Construction Project (15.4 billion yen)
Shenzhen Dapeng Bay Yantian Port 1st Phase Construction Project (14.7 billion yen)
Dalian Port Dayao Bay 1st Phase Construction Project (6.7 billion yen)
Cumulative total of aid in this area excluding the above-mentioned projects: 272.6 billion yen
Power Stations
Tianshengqiao Hydroelectric Power Project (118.0 billion yen)
Jiangxi Jiujiang Thermal Power Plant Construction Project (29.6 billion yen)
Wuqiangxi Dam Construction Project (25.2 billion yen)
Shanhe Thermal Power Plant Construction Project (24.6 billion yen)
Beijing Shisanling Pumped Storage Power Station Construction Project (13.0 billion yen)
Cumulative total of aid in this area excluding the above-mentioned projects: 488.2 billion yen
Fertilizer Plants
Weihe Chemical Fertilizer Plant Construction Project (26.9 billion yen)
Inner Mongolia Chemical Fertilizer Construction Project (21.4 billion yen)
Jiujiang Chemical Fertilizer Plant Construction Project (21.4 billion yen)
Cumulative total of aid in this area excluding the above-mentioned projects: 106.3 billion yen
Steel Plants
Shanghai Baoshan Infrastructure Improvement Project (31.0 billion yen)
Environment Protection
Prevention of Air Pollution
Environment Model City Project (Guiyang, Chongqing, Dalian) (30.7 billion yen)
Forestation
Ningxia Afforestation and Vegetation Cover Project (8.0 billion yen)
Sewage System
Xiang River Basin Hunan Environment Improvement Project (3.1 billion yen)
Beijing Sewage Treatment Plant Construction Project (2.6 billion yen)
Cumulative total of aid in this area excluding the above-mentioned projects: 857.8 billion yen
Human Resources Development Projects
Inland Higher Education Project (88.8 billion yen)
Infrastructure Projects in Medical and Environmental Areas
The Project for Construction of the China-Japan Friendship Hospital (Grant aid: 16.430 billion yen)
The Project for Construction of the China-Japan Friendship Environment Protection Center (Grant aid: 10.499 billion yen / Technical cooperation: 1.997 billion yen)
Projects for resolving environmental issues and other global issues including infectious diseases
Public Health Improvement Project (Loan aid: 26.218 billion yen)
Henan Atmospheric Environmental Improvement Project (Loan aid: 19.295 billion yen)
Inner-Mongolia Huhhot Water Environmental Improvement Project (Loan aid: 9.747 billion yen)
The Project for Afforestation for Conservation of Middle Stream of Huang He (Grant aid: 1.656 billion yen)
Expanding Program on Immunization Strengthening Project (Technical cooperation: 617.000 million yen)
The Model Afforestation Project in Sichuan (Technical cooperation: 548.000 million yen)
Promotion of mutual understanding
Public Broadcasting Infrastructure Improvement Project (Loan aid: 20.202 billion yen)
The Project for Development of the Beijing Center for Japanese Studies (Grant aid: 851.000 million yen)
Japanese Language Instructor to Liangshan Autonomous Prefecture (JOCV: Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteers Program)
Assistance for open and reform policy
Inland Higher Education Project (Regional Vitalization, Market Economy Reform Support, and Environmental Conservation) (Loan aid: 25.482 billion yen)
Sichuan Higher Education Project (Loan aid: 6.131 billion yen)
The Project for Human Resource Development Scholarship (Grant aid: 259.000 million yen (2003))
Assistance for poverty alleviation
The Project for Supply of Equipment for the Secondary Vocational Schools (Phase II) (Grant aid: 1.268 billion yen)
The Project for Tuberculosis Control in Poor Areas (Grant aid: 321.000 million yen)
The Project for Improvement of Medical Equipment for the Neijiang City Red Cross China-Japan Friendship Hospital in Sichuan Province (Grassroots human security grant aid: 9.000 million yen)
[$1 = 100 yen or so]
http://www.mofa.go.jp/policy/oda/region/e_asia/china/index.html
http://eereporter.blogspot.com/2011/02/that-are-whole-have-no-need-of.html
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ATTACHMENT XI: Recent Development of Senkaku Condition
Tatsushiro Koga, the first Japanese owner of the Senkaku Islands, was born in a farming house cultivating and selling tea, etc. in Fukuoka Prefecture of the Kyusyu region, Japan, in 1856.
In 1868, the last samurai regime of Japan fell through a civil war. It was replaced with the modern Meiji Government which soon consolidated its power as the Imperial Government of Japan. In those days, the Senkaku Islands were virtually part of Okinawa (Ryukyu Kingdom) which was subject to a samurai clan in Kyusyu, the most westward region of Japan proper, who was called Satsuma. As Satsuma was under the Tokugawa shogun (the head of the samurai regime) in Tokyo, Okinawa became part of the Empire of Japan as the most southern prefecture. But there was some official ambiguity about attribution of the Senkaku Islands, as Ryukyu Kingdom of Okinawa had had a unique relationship with China (the Qing Dynasty) as a tributary.
When Koga was 24 yeras old in 1879, he moved to Naha City, Okinawa, to start his own business. Then in 1884, he ventured into development of the Senkaku Islands, 410 km far from the main island of Okinawa, as he filed an application for use of Senkaku to the Okinawa Prefecture office in 1885. Okinawa officials consulted Tokyo, and the central government of the Empire started to investigate legal status of the Senkaku Islands situated between the Chinese continent and the Okinawa islands.
In 1895 during the First Sino-Japanese War, the Imperial Government officially decided, through a Cabinet meeting decision, to incorporate the Senkaku Islands into the Japanese territory. In 1896, Tatsushiro Koga was officially authorized to lend the Senkaku Islands in a 30-year contract by the Imperial Government of Japan. In one time, Koga employed 200 workers for fish processing work in the Senkaku Islands. This is the only known case in history (of Japan and China) of any business activities that have ever been onducted in the Senkaku Islands. In 1909, Koga was praised publicly by the Imperial Government for his business activities in Senkaku. And in 1918, Tatsushiro Koga died.
In 1932, the Imperial Government of Japan sold four islands of the Senkaku Islands to Zenji Koga, the eldest son of Tatsushiro Koga. But, Zenji Koga and his wife Hanako had no children, though the Kogas loved a young man named Kunioki Kurihara who later came to possess the Senkaku Islands.
In 1968, a seafloor survey suggested a strong possibility of existence of a huge amount of deposit of crude oil and natural gas around the Senkaku Islands and surrounding areas of the East China Sea. This possibility was confirmed by a UN survey team in 1969 and 1970. Accordingly, in 1971, Taiwan and China started to claim their sovereignty over the Senkaku Islands.
In 1972, the Kogas handed over two islands of the Senkaku Islands to the Kunihara family. In 1978, Zenji Koga died and all the properties he owned was transferred to his wife Hanako. But on this occasion, Hanako Koga handed over the main island of Senkaku, called Uotsuri-jima Island, to the Kurihara family. When Hanako Koga died in 1988, all the other properties were also transferred to the Kurihara family.
According to a rumor, in the above transaction, the Kurihara family paid about 46 million yen (presently $580,000) to the Koga family, though the Kurihara family today claims that they paid more.
In 2002, the Japanese Government started to lease the Senkaku Islands from the Kurihara family at a rent of 20 million yen ($250,000) per year. A younger brother of Kunioki Kurihara says that he visited the Senkaku Islands scores of times before; but the Japanese Government has prevented ordinary Japanese citizens from landing on the Senkaku Islands so as not to intensify a diplomatic dispute over Senkaku with China.
In September 2010, some Chinese fishing boats were engaged in illegal fishing in the Japanese sea territory around the Senkaku Island (usually many Chinese fishing boats were active in the area). One of them was captured by the Japan Coast Guard after violent resistance against Japanese patrol boats. The event was taken into video by Japanese maritime officials, and the video clips were later released voluntarily by one Japanese officer (who was eventually forced to resign by the pro-Chinese Kan Cabinet at the time). The video exposed lies the Chinese Government told to the world about this collision incident between the Japanese patrol boats and the Chinese fishing boat (they claimed that the Chinese boat was unreasonably attacked by the Japanese authority). But the captain of the illegal Chinese fishing boat who was arrested and indicted was released before a trial in a court by a Japanese public prosecutor in Okinawa (who apparently followed an instruction from then pro-Chinese Prime Minister Naoto Kan and his aids in Tokyo).
In the spring of 2012, Tokyo Prefecture Governor Shintaro Ishiahara launched a project to buy out the Senkaku Islands from the Kurihara family. He first planned to use public money of Tokyo Prefecture office, but the Tokyo Governor also solicited the public for contributions. As of the beginning of June 2012, more than one billion yen ($12.5 million) was contributed by many patriotic Japanese citizens.
In the summer of 2012, the Japanese Government, led by the Democratic Party of Japan, announced a plan to directly purchase those islands in Senkaku from the owner family. The Japanese Government wants Senkaku as its direct asset. But, negotiations between the Tokyo Prefecture Office, the Central Government, and the Kurihara family have not progressed at all.
### ### ###
Finally the Japanese Government decided to purchase three islands of Senkaku from the Kurihara family at 2 billion yen ($25 million) in September, 2012. The deal was concluded in September, leaving Tokyo Governor Ishihara with empty hands. But China misunderstood that this action of the Japanese Government means that Japan is to intensify its occupation of the Senaku Islands challenging China. Accordingly, China has started to dispatch its coast guard ships and other governmental ships in the sea territory of Japan around the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea.
Senkaku Islands DisputeFormer Owner Criticizes Japanese GovernmentBy Wieland Wagner in Tokyo
Hiroyuki Kurihara runs his hand over the nautical chart hanging on the wall of the office of his Tokyo-based architectural firm. Finally, he points to five tiny dots in the blue of the East China Sea, far to the southwest of Japan: the rocky and uninhabited Senkaku Islands. The islands are home to waterfalls and goats, but not much else.
Until recently, most of the Senkakus belonged to the Kuriharas. "For over 40 years, we have safeguarded these islands for our nation," says Kurihara, "but now we've grown old." The week before last, the family sold three of the Senkakus to the Japanese government for the equivalent of €20 million ($26 million). Kurihara, 65, now thinks this was a mistake. He would have rather caused even more of an uproar.As it is, though, this unusual real estate deal has triggered the most heated dispute in decades with Japan's large neighbor: In China, rioting demonstrators damaged Japanese businesses and set fire to factories, and Beijing has dispatched patrol boats to the area -- where the Japanese coast guard has been ordered to keep the Chinese in check. "Could Asia really go to war over these?" asked the British weekly magazine The Economist in a headline posted over a photograph of the tiny outcrops of land.
China lays claim to the islands, which it refers to as the Diaoyu Islands, and feels provoked by their sale to the Japanese government. Oddly enough, though, this is precisely the conflict that Japan sought to avoid. "Our government missed many opportunities to defend our sovereignty," says Kurihara bitterly.
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/tension-between-japan-and-china-in-senkaku-islands-dispute-a-857514.html
ATTACHMENT XII: Invasion by Chinese Gov. Ships of Senkaku Sea in Sept. 2012
In September 2012, the Chinese Government dispatched "six" of its coast guard ships into the Japanese territorial sea around the Senkaku Islands, which is the first case in the long history about the Senkaku issue. All of these six governmental ships of China violated the Japanese territorial sea around the three major islands of Senkkau: Taishoto, Kubajima, and Uotsurijima.
Chinese Ships Enter Japanese-Controlled Waters to Protest Sale of Islands
By MARTIN FACKLER
Published: September 13, 2012
TOKYO — Six Chinese maritime patrol vessels entered Japanese-controlled waters around a group of disputed islands on Friday, the Japanese Coast Guard said, in the first such move by China since the Japanese government announced that it had bought the islands this week....
That dispute has flared anew in recent months, after the nationalist governor of Tokyo declared that he wanted to buy the islands, which were owned by a Japanese family. The national government stepped in to buy them instead, a move that drew an angry response from Beijing....
Japan annexed the disputed islands in 1895, saying that they were unclaimed territory. It says China only started showing interest in them in the early 1970s, after possible oil reserves were discovered nearby. China says that the islands were Chinese for centuries, and that Imperial Japan took them as a first step toward its later invasion of the Chinese mainland.
Beijing also blames the United States, which seized the islands during World War II, for handing them over to Japan along with Okinawa in 1972 without consulting China.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/14/world/asia/chinese-ships-enter-japanese-controlled-waters-to-protest-sale-of-islands.html?_r=1&hp
ATTACHMENT XIII: How the US State Department Calls the Senkaku Islands
It is interesting that the US Government acknowledges its duty to defend Japan's Senkaku Islands together with the Japanese Self-Defense Forces but does not confirm that the islands are part of the Japanese national territory. As long as the Japanese Government manages and exercises jurisdiction over the islands, the US has a duty for defense, subject to the Japan-US security treat.
TRANSCRIPT:
12:39 p.m. EDT
MS. NULAND: Good afternoon, everybody. Happy Tuesday. We will – let me just start with a recap of the Secretary’s trip announcement, which we just put out on paper. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton departs on Thursday for the Cook Islands, Indonesia, China, Timor-Leste, Brunei, and Russia.
...
QUESTION: There are reports that her family at a press conference said that Ambassador Dan Shapiro told them that he found the – he was finding the investigation not to be transparent. Do you have any comment on that?
MS. NULAND: I was asked this question earlier this week. Beyond saying that we have met with the family regularly, that we have provided consular support, I’m not going to get into our private discussions with the family.
Please.
QUESTION: What is the official name for the Senkaku Islands for the United States? Is it Diaoyu Islands or Senkaku Islands, or both are okay?
MS. NULAND: Our – I’m going to go to my special little rocks cheat sheet here, because this is getting quite complicated with lots of --
QUESTION: Yes. Do you have one?
MS. NULAND: -- different things here. So let me make sure I get it right here. So the one – yeah. So as we’ve said, we call them the Senkakus, so if that’s the question that you’re asking. We don’t take a position on them, though, as I’ve said all the way through.
QUESTION: So you don’t take a position on them, but on the other hand you think the islands is covered by the Defense Treaty between Japan and the United States, right? Is that correct? Do you think that those two things are contradictory, because --
MS. NULAND: Yes. We’ve consistently said that we see them falling under the scope of Article 5 of the 1960 U.S.-Japan Treaty.
QUESTION: Do you think that is contradictory? Because for me, it sounds like contradictory. You said you don’t have a position on the sovereignty of the islands, but on the other hand you said it’s covered by the treaty, which only protects Japanese territories.
MS. NULAND: But this is because the Senkakus have been under the administrative control of the Government of Japan since they were returned as part of the reversion of Okinawa since 1972.
QUESTION: So let me rephrase my question. Do you regard the islands as Japanese territory?
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/dpb/2012/08/196986.htmMS. NULAND: Again, we don’t take a position on the islands, but we do assert that they are covered under the treaty.
ATTACHMENT XIV: American Attitudes toward Senkaku
How has the US Government ever discussed the Senkaku Islands issue?
Lending clarity to the China-Japan dispute
ANURAG VISWANATH
Posted: Wednesday, Sep 19, 2012 at 0336 hrs IST
However, the Japanese dismiss this version. They contend that Senkaku/Diaoyu was discovered by Japan in 1884. Then Senkaku/Diaoyu showed no traces of Chinese control, nor did China protest any activity by the Japanese on the islands. It was made a part of Okinawa in 1895 and markers erected. Okinawa was carved from the Ryukuku Islands (once an independent sovereign kingdom incorporated into Japan as Ryuku-han in 1872). The Japanese contend that Senkaku/Diaoyu was never “transferred to Japan via Treaty of Shimonoseki” as the Chinese claim....http://www.financialexpress.com/news/lending-clarity-to-the-chinajapan-dispute/1004556/0
Hara notes that Senkaku (and Okinawa) were placed under US control under Article 3 of the peace treaty. The US relinquished its administrative rights over Senkaku in 1972, but despite “reversion” remained stationed in Okinawa. Japan’s residual sovereignty over Senkaku/Diaoyu was recognised by successive Presidents—Eisenhower, Kennedy and Johnson. But Nixon made a departure.
As Nixon at the time wanted to improve relationship with China to end the American involvement in the Vietnam War where China played some supportive role to North Vietnam, Nixon refrained from continuing support for Japan regarding the sovereignty issue over Senkaku.
Senkaku (Diaoyu/Diaoyutai) Islands Dispute: U.S. Treaty Obligations
Mark E. Manyin
Specialist in Asian Affairs
September 25, 2012
....
U.S. Administration of the Islands, 1953-1971
U.S. administration of the islands began in 1953 as a result of the 1951 Treaty of Peace with Japan. The Treaty did not mention the Senkakus (Diaoyu/Diaoyutai), but it referred to other islands that had reverted to Chinese control or which China claimed. These included Taiwan, the Pescadores (off the western coast of Taiwan), as well as the Spratlys and the Paracels (both in the South China Sea). Article 3 gave the United States sole powers of administration of "Nansei Shoto south of 29 north latitude (including the Ryukyu and the Daito Islands)...." In 1953, the U.S. Civil Administration of the Ryukyus issued U.S. Civil Administration of the Ryukyus Proclamation 27 (USCAR 27), which defined the boundaries of "Nansei Shoto [the southwestern islands] south of 29 degrees north latitude" to include the Senkakus. At the time of the signing of the Okinawa Reversion Treaty, several State Department officials asserted that following the signing of the Japan Peace Treaty, "Nansei Shoto south of 29 degrees north latitude" was "understood by the United States and Japan to include the Senkaku Islands." Moreover, during the period of U.S. administration, the U.S. Navy established firing ranges on the islands and paid an annual rent of $11,000 to Jinji Koga, the son of the first Japanese settler of the islands. China has described the U.S.-Japan understandings related to the islands as “backroom deals” that are "illegal and invalid."
So, the US has conventionally admitted that Japan possesses the Senkaku Islands, since it came to be directly involved in international and diplomatic issues in East Asia after WWII, though the US colonized the Philippines before WWII.
The island to the right in the Senkaku Islands (in the above map) is called Taisho-to which is possessed by the Japanese Gov. for more than a century unlike other islands of Senkaku.
Therefore it is very unreasonable that China recently started to release its hostility to Japan in the wake of the transaction of the Japanese Government, concluded in September 2012, purchasing the main island, called Uotsuri-jima, and two other small ones accompanying Uotsuri of Senkaku from a private Japanese owner.
Incidentally, the history of Taiwan has made it a little complicated, but the Ming dynasty (1368-1644) of China regarded the Senkaku Islands as lands out of its territory as Taiwan was then. It could be confirmed in some old maps made in Ming. The then Chinese Imperial court regarded Senkaku as part of the Ryukyu (Okinawa) kingdom which brought a tribute to Ming.
Finally, you had better refer to the Historical Analysis on the Senkaku Islands in http://eereporter.blogspot.jp/2010/10/yesterday-two-miracles-however-you.html.
ATTACHMENT XV: Recent Senkaku Situations
By Malcolm Foster, Associated Press | Associated Press – Fri, Sep 14, 2012 9:11 AM EDT
Japanese, Chinese ships exchange island warnings
Japanese, Chinese ships exchange warnings near disputed islands as tension mounts
TOKYO (AP) -- Chinese and Japanese government ships exchanged warnings Friday in waters near disputed islands in the East China Sea, while Tokyo called on Beijing to protect its citizens amid anti-Japan protests and reported assaults in China.
Tensions between the Asian giants have flared anew after the Japanese government bought the islands from their private Japanese owners this week. The uninhabited islands, claimed by both countries as well as Taiwan, have become a rallying point for nationalists on both sides.
In response to Japan's purchase, China on Friday sent six surveillance ships into what Japan says are its territorial waters around the islands, called Senkaku by Japan and Diaoyu by China. Japanese coast guard ships radioed warnings to the Chinese vessels and two or three moved out of the territorial waters, said Yasuhiko Oku, a Japanese coast guard official.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/japanese-chinese-ships-exchange-island-131148228.html
###
Chinese ships circle near Senkaku islands, Japan protests violation
By Associated Press on January 8, 2013
The Japanese Government summoned the Chinese Ambassador on Tuesday to protest four Chinese maritime surveillance ships that steamed around in waters for half a day near disputed islands claimed by both countries.
The uninhabited outcroppings in the East China Sea, called Senkakus in Japanese and Diaoyu in Chinese, are controlled by Japan but are also claimed by Beijing and Taiwan.
Deputy Foreign Minister Akitaka Saiki called Ambassador Cheng Yonghua to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs after the four Chinese Government ships remained in waters off the islands for about 13 hours on Monday until just after midnight on early Tuesday, said Masaru Sato, a ministry official.
http://www.niticentral.com/2013/01/08/chinese-ships-circle-near-senkaku-islands-japan-protests-violation-36298.html
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01/19/2013 11:53
Tokyo (AsiaNews / Agencies) - Three Chinese ships entered in Japanese territorial waters today near the Senkaku / Diaoyu islands disputed between Tokyo and Beijing. The violation comes only a few hours from a warning issued by the United States, urging Beijing not to challenge the sovereignty of Tokyo.
http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Chinese-ships-in-the-waters-of-the-Senkaku-/-Diaoyu.-Clinton-issues-warning-26911.html
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Japan Coast Guard reports Chinese ships in Senkaku waters
posted on APRIL 16, 2013 by ADAM WESTLAKE
Continuing China’s preferred method of protesting against Japan’s ownership of the disputed Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands, three Beijing patrol ships entered the waters around the territory on Tuesday morning, reported the Japan Coast Guard. While Japan’s nationalization of the islands took place in September of this year, escalating the tensions with China in the months that have followed, Beijing ships continue to routinely enter Japanese territorial waters without permission, usually at least several times a month.
http://japandailypress.com/japan-coast-guard-reports-chinese-ships-in-senkaku-waters-1627063
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Chinese fighter jets swarming near Senkaku islands
TOKYO: Chinese military planes, mostly fighter jets, made more than 40 flights close to Tokyo-controlled islands at the centre of a territorial dispute on a single day this week, a press report said Saturday.
The flights took place on Tuesday, when eight Chinese marine surveillance ships entered the 12-nautical-mile territorial zone off the islands in the East China Sea, which Japan calls the Senkakus and China calls the Diaoyus, the Sankei Shimbun newspaper reported.
Last Edited by The Tauremini on 04/27/2013 10:38 PM
###
ATTACHMENT XVI: Recent South China Sea Status
Updated June, 09 2014 08:25:29
Chinese ships continue aggression
HA NOI (VNS) — Viet Nam fisheries surveillance ships yesterday continued intense efforts to oppose China and get it to withdraw the oil rig Haiyang Shiyou-981 from Viet Nam's waters.
The ships stayed about 8-10 nautical miles from where China's oil rig has been illegally placed, according to the Vietnam Fisheries Surveillance Department.
Meanwhile, Viet Nam's fishing boats carried out normal fishing activities about 35-40 nautical miles from the rig, asserting control over their fishing grounds.
In addition to protesting China's s violation of Viet Nam's sovereignty, the fisheries surveillance ships stood side-by-side with fishing boats to protect them from Chinese vessels.
China has maintained nearly 120 ships in the area, including 40 coast guard vessels, more than 30 cargo ships and tugboats, 35-40 fishing boats and four warships. A Y-8 aircraft was also spotted flying 300-500m above the oil rig.
China's fishing boats, backed by two coast guard ships, continued to hinder Vietnamese fisheries surveillance and fishing ships from accessing the rig.
The Chinese vessels staged spontaneous assaults, pushing Viet Nam's fishing boats about 35-40 nautical miles away from the rig.
At one point, the Chinese vessels even organised into groups, about 9-11 nautical miles from the rig, poising themselves to ram and fire water cannons at the Vietnamese ships.
The Vietnamese fisheries surveillance and fishing ships remained unharmed despite acts of aggression from Chinese vessels.
Chinese tugboat 281 on Saturday deliberately rammed into Viet Nam's fisheries surveillance ship KN-635 that was conducting law enforcement in the area around the Haiyang Shiyou-981 oil rig that is illegally standing in Vietnamese waters.
The Chinese fleet also blasted sirens, fired water cannons and were ready to ram Vietnamese vessels at any time, preventing them from approaching the rig, the department said.
Despite the Chinese aggression, Viet Nam's fisheries surveillance ships had continued to maintain their operations at about 9-11 nautical miles from the rig to voice their protests and demand China's removal of the rig out of Viet Nam's exclusive economic zone and continental shelf, according to the department.http://vietnamnews.vn/politics-laws/255958/chinese-ships-continue-aggression.html
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I think this is the most comprehensive time-line review on the Senkaku Islands ever written by a Japanese citizen in English.
You may advise The New York Times, Chinese Americans, and Chinese citizens/students in America to check it before discussing the matter.
