Sir, – The article “Islands dispute rocks diplomatic relations between Japan and China” in the August 25th edition of your newspaper not only presents a one-sided account of the facts relating to the Senkaku Islands but also fails to make Japan’s position clear, thus providing your readers with an inaccurate understanding of this issue, and it is highly regrettable that this kind of article should have been published in an esteemed newspaper such as The Irish Times.
In light of the historical facts and under international law, the Senkaku Islands are an inherent territory of Japan and under the valid control of Japan. There exists no issue of territorial sovereignty to be resolved concerning the Senkaku Islands.
From 1885 onwards, the government of Japan repeatedly conducted on-site surveys of the Senkaku Islands, and having confirmed that they were uninhabited and showed no signs of being under the control of the Qing dynasty of China, a cabinet decision was made in January 1895 formally incorporating the islands into the territory of Japan. Japan acquired sovereignty over the Senkaku Islands in accordance with the ways of duly acquiring territorial sovereignty under international law (occupation of terra nullius). Japan’s sovereignty over the islands is absolutely unrelated to the Sino-Japanese War (1894-95, the Treaty of Shimonoseki came into effect in May 1895), and the statement made in the article that “To China, the Diaoyus are a symbol of Japanese colonialism, swiped as the spoils of war during a period of national weakness” is a complete and deliberate misrepresentation of the facts.
Since then, the Senkaku Islands have consistently formed part of the territory of Japan. After the second World War, the Senkaku Islands were placed under the administration of the United States of America as part of the Nansei Shoto Islands, but even during this period, Japan retained sovereignty, and the islands are therefore an integral part of the territory of Japan. Neither China nor Taiwan expressed any objections to the status of the islands being under the administration of the United States. Furthermore, China and Taiwan’s claims only date back to the latter half of the 1970s when the question of oil resources on the continental shelf of the East China Sea began to emerge, and until then no objection to Japan’s valid control of the Senkaku Islands was expressed by any country at any time. None of the points raised by China or Taiwan as historical, geographical or geological evidence provides valid grounds, on the basis of international law, to support their arguments regarding sovereignty of the Senkaku Islands. – Yours, etc,