Recent developments
- 1971: The Republic of China (ROC) and the People's Republic of China (PRC) claim sovereignty
- 1978: The Japan Youth Association set up a lighthouse on the main island.
- 14 July 1996: The Japan Youth Association builds a 5 m high, solar-powered, aluminum lighthouse on another island.
- 14 September 1996: a US State Department spokesman referred to the US's neutral position on the Senkaku Islands issue.
- 26 September 1996: David Chan (陳毓祥), a Hong Kong Hong Kong , officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, is a largely self-governing territory of the People's Republic of China, facing Guangdong to the north and the South China Sea to the east, west and south. Hong Kong is a global metropolitan and international financial centre, and has a highly developed capitalist economy protester, drowns near the islets, after leaping off one of the protest vessels with several companions with the object of symbolizing Chinese claim of sovereignty.
- 7 October 1996: Protesters plant the flags of the ROC The flag is considered invalid by the People's Republic of China, which now controls mainland China and claims to be the sole legitimate government of the territories currently controlled by the ROC, most notably Taiwan. Within Taiwan, as the former flag of mainland China it is embraced by Chinese reunification supporters as a reminder of the 5 and the PRC The flag of the People's Republic of China, the "Five-stars-red Flag" , was designed by Zeng Liansong, an economist and artist from Rui'an (瑞安 ruì ān), Zhejiang. He designed it in response to a circular distributed by the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) in July 1949, shortly after they came to power. Out on the main island, but are later removed by the Japanese.
- 9 April 1999: US Ambassador to Japan Thomas S. Foley said "we are not, as far as I understand, taking a specific position in the dispute.... we do not assume that there will be any reason to engage the security treaty in any immediate sense."
- 20 April 2000: Senkaku Shinto shrine (尖閣神社) was established on Uotsuri Jima/Diaoyudao.[27]
- April 2002: The Japanese government leased Uotsuri and other islands from their private owners.
- 24 March 2004: A group of Chinese activists from the PRC planned to stay on the Islands for three days. The seven people who landed on the islands were arrested by the Japanese for illegal entry Migrants from nations that do not have automatic visa agreements, or who would not otherwise qualify for a visa, often cross the borders illegally in some areas like the United States–Mexico border, the Mona Channel between the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico, the Strait of Gibraltar, Fuerteventura, and the Strait of Otranto. These methods. The Japanese Foreign Ministry forwarded a complaint to the PRC government, but the PRC in turn demanded the release of the activists. They were then sent to Japan and deported from there. Japan subsequently stated that it would prohibit anybody from landing on the islands without prior permission.
- 24 March 2004: Adam Ereli, Deputy Spokesman at the US State Department said "The U.S. does not take a position on the question of the ultimate sovereignty of the Senkaku Diaoyu Islands."
- February 2005: Japan planned to take ownership of a privately-owned lighthouse A lighthouse is a tower, building, or framework designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses or, in older times, from a fire and used as an aid to navigation and to pilots at sea on Uotsuri, after it was offered to them by the owner, a fisherman living on Ishigaki, Okinawa Ishigaki is a city in Okinawa Prefecture, Japan. It includes the Ishigaki island and the disputed Senkaku Islands (Diaoyutai Islands) territory. The lighthouse is expected to be managed by the Japanese Coast Guard The Japan Coast Guard is the Japanese coast guard. Comprising about 12,000 personnel, it is under the oversight of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, and is responsible for the protection the coast-lines of Japan. It was founded in 1948.
- 23 April 2004 a member of a Japanese right-wing group rammed a bus into the Chinese consulate in Osaka Osaka listen (help·info) is a city in Japan, located at the mouth of the Yodo River on Osaka Bay, in the Kansai region of the main island of Honshū, to protest China's claims. The bus, with the Japanese flag painted on its side, burned after it crashed into the Chinese consulate.[28]
- July 2004 Japan started exploring for natural gas in what it considers its own exclusive economic zone in the East China Sea as a step to counter China's building of a natural gas complex nearby. Japan plans to survey a 30-kilometer-wide band stretching between latitudes 28 The 28th parallel north is a circle of latitude that is 28 degrees north of the Earth's equatorial plane and 30 degrees The 30th parallel north is a circle of latitude that is 30 degrees north of the Earth's equatorial plane. It stands one-third of the way between the equator and the North Pole North, just inside the border demarcated by Japan. China disputes Japan's rights to explore the area east of the median line between the two countries, which Japan has proposed as the demarcation line for their exclusive economic zones.[28]
- July 2004 a group of Chinese held a police-approved demonstration outside the Japanese Embassy in Beijing afternoon to protest Japan's "illegal" oil exploration activities in a disputed area of the East China Sea. The protesters, organized by Beijing-based organization called the Patriots Alliance Network, shouted slogans for about an hour, during which two embassy staff members came out to take the group's written statement.[28]
- 10 February 2005: On Voice of America Voice of America is the official external radio and television broadcasting service of the United States federal government. Its oversight entity is the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG). VOA provides a wide range of programming for broadcast over short-wave radio around the world in forty-six languages, promoting a positive view of the United, U.S. Undersecretary of State John Bolton said that Japan's new assertiveness is in line with the desires of many Japanese politicians to take their country beyond its post-World War Two reliance on the United States. "It's a question of the evolution of Japanese thinking on its own. Japan has made it clear they want to resolve all of the territorial disputes by diplomatic means and that's certainly something that we agree with. Our kind of getting in the middle of it is probably not the most productive way to proceed."
- June 2005: The ROC dispatched a ROCN The Republic of China Navy is the maritime branch of the Armed forces of the Republic of China (Taiwan). The ROC Navy's primary mission is to defend ROC territories and the sea lanes that surround Taiwan against a blockade, attack, or possible invasion by forces of the People's Republic of China. Operations include maritime patrols in the Taiwan frigate In the 18th century, the term referred to ships which were as long as a ship-of-the-line and were square-rigged on all three masts , but were faster and with lighter armament, used for patrolling and escort. In most cases, they carried all their armament upon a single gun deck, while ships-of-the-line possessed multiple gun decks into disputed waters (but did not go as far as the islands) after Taiwanese fishing vessels were harassed by Japanese patrol boats. The frigate, which was carrying Legislative Yuan President Wang Jin-pyng Wang Jin-pyng (born March 17, 1941), Taiwanese politician, is the President of the Legislative Yuan. As one of the leading figures of the Kuomintang, Wang is considered to be soft-spoken and a conciliatory figure and ROC Defense Minister Lee Jye Lee Jye is a former defense minister of the Republic of China (Taiwan), was not challenged and returned to Taiwan without incident. Fisheries talks between Taipei and Tokyo were held in July, but did not cover sovereignty issues.
- 17 March 2006: Kyodo News Kyodo News is a nonprofit cooperative news agency based in Minato, Tokyo. It was established in 1945 and it distributes news to almost all newspapers, and radio and television networks in Japan. The newspapers using its news have about 50 million subscribers. The subdivision Kyodo News International founded in 1982 is located in Rockefeller Center, reported the U.S. Ambassador to Japan, Thomas Schieffer John Thomas Schieffer, known as Tom Schieffer , is the most recent United States Ambassador to Japan, and served as U.S. Ambassador to Australia from 2001 to 2005. Schieffer is a friend and former business partner of President George W. Bush. He is the younger brother of Bob Schieffer, a CBS News reporter and host of Face the Nation. Schieffer is, presented that he considered "the Islands as territory of Japan" in his talk in Tokyo.[29]
- 27 October 2006: A group of activists from Hong Kong Hong Kong , officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, is a largely self-governing territory of the People's Republic of China, facing Guangdong to the north and the South China Sea to the east, west and south. Hong Kong is a global metropolitan and international financial centre, and has a highly developed capitalist economy, the Action Committee for Defending the Diaoyu Islands Action Committee for Defending the Diaoyu Islands is a Hong Kong-based activist organisation that asserts Chinese sovereignty over the Diaoyu Islands. The territorial right to the islands is disputed between the People's Republic of China, the Republic of China, and Japan, who currently controls them. Action Committee for Defending the Diaoyu, including Tsang Kin Shing and several members of the April Fifth Action April Fifth Action or AFAG is a group named after the first Tiananmen incident of April 5, 1976. It is a small socialist group in the Hong Kong. While the organization's Chinese name translates as "April Fifth Action", English language media in Hong Kong usually refer to it as the April Fifth Action Group, approached the islands in order to show the support for Chinese claims to the Senkakus. They were stopped from landing on the islands by the Japan Coast Guard.[30] Later on, the PLAN The People's Liberation Army Navy (Simplified Chinese: 中国人民解放军海军; Traditional Chinese: 中國人民解放軍海軍; Pinyin: Zhōngguó Rénmín Jiěfàngjūn Hǎijūn) is the naval branch of the People's Liberation Army (PLA), the military of the People's Republic of China. Until the early 1990s, the navy performed a subordinate conducted a military exercise in the area.[31]
- 10 June 2008: The 270 ton sport fishing vessel Lien Ho of Taiwan suffered a collision with a Japanese patrol vessel, Koshiki, and subsequently sank, while in the disputed territorial waters that have been claimed by Japan and Taiwan. The Taiwanese crew who were aboard the vessel claims that the larger Japanese frigate deliberately crashed into them; their assertions are backed up by recently released video footage.[32] While releasing the passengers, Japan initially detained the captain and sought reparations.[33][34] The captain has now been released and has returned to Taiwan. Liu Chao-shiuan Liu Chao-shiuan is the current Premier of the Republic of China and an educator. Liu is also former President of Soochow University and also of the National Tsing Hua University, Premier of the Republic of China The President of the Executive Yuan , commonly known in English as the Premier of Taiwan (sometimes as Prime Minister) (traditional Chinese: 臺灣閣揆), is the head of the Executive Yuan, the executive branch of the Republic of China (ROC), which currently administers Taiwan, Matsu, and Kinmen. The premier is appointed by the president, has refused to rule out the use of force to defend Diaoyutai against Japanese advances.[35] The ROC government has recalled its chief representative to Japan in protest.[36] On 16 June, a boat carrying activists from Taiwan, defended by five Republic of China The Republic of China , commonly known as Taiwan, is a state in East Asia that has evolved from a single-party state with full global recognition and jurisdiction over China into a democratic state with limited international recognition and jurisdiction only over Taiwan and minor islands, though it enjoys de facto relations with many other states Coast Guard vessels, approached to within 0.4 nautical miles (740 m) of the main island, from which position they circumnavigated the island in an assertion of sovereignty of the islands. This demonstration has prompted Taiwanese politicians to cancel a planned trip on-board Republic of China Navy The Republic of China Navy is the maritime branch of the Armed forces of the Republic of China (Taiwan). The ROC Navy's primary mission is to defend ROC territories and the sea lanes that surround Taiwan against a blockade, attack, or possible invasion by forces of the People's Republic of China. Operations include maritime patrols in the Taiwan vessels to demonstrate sovereignty.[37] The Taiwanese vessels were followed by Japanese Coast Guard vessels, but no attempt was made to intercept them. On 20 June, the de-facto Japanese ambassador to Taiwan apologized, in person, to the captain of the Taiwanese boat Lien Ho.[38]
<<Table of Contents Their status has emerged as a major issue in foreign relations between the People's Republic of China and Japan and between Japan and the Republic of China. Japanese government regards these islands as a part of Okinawa prefecture. While the complexity of the PRC-ROC relation has affected efforts to demonstrate Chinese sovereignty over the islands, | Next>> | Show All>>
