Get started on your Global Security Doctoral Degree at American Military University. |
In this exclusive video, American Military University’s doctoral faculty member, Dr. Yukinori Komine, discusses China and Japan’s territorial dispute over the Senkaku Islands – which has hampered diplomatic relations between the nations for many years.
Transcript: China and Japan’s War of Words Over The Senkaku Islands
Japan and China have been having territorial disputes over the small islands called Senkaku in East China Sea. And this is the territorial issue which has been preventing Japan and China from developing smooth economic and diplomatic relations for many years.
My principal research, the area of expertise, is U.S., China, Japan — diplomatic and security relationship. I need to look at the specific problem in order to understand some of the elements which are preventing US, Japan, China from developing a more stable relationship.
At the moment, Japan and China have been restoring their diplomatic relations based on their extensive trade interactions. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan has recently visited China and held a summit meeting with the president Xi Jinping of China. And, it appears that the two countries decided to put the issue aside, at least by not referring to the issue, in their joint communication or press conferences. And therefore the Senkaku Islands issue appears to be not the principal security or diplomatic issue at the moment between the two countries.
There is no solid consensus among those who claim the territorial sovereignty over the Senkaku Islands. For example. Japan has been consistently claiming that the Senkaku Islands belongs to Okinawa prefecture, Japan and Okinawa prefecture is a part of Japan, and therefore Senkaku islands are part of Japanese national territories.
China, on the other hand, claims it is Japan which stole the Senkaku Islands from China at the end of Sino-Japanese war of 1895. So China takes a much longer perspective. There is also the Republic of China which is in Taiwan, and Taiwan claims also its own territorial sovereignty over the Senkaku islands. Taiwan as a government claims that it is the only legitimate government of China. And the Senkaku islands are part of Taiwan, they claim. And People’s Republic of China in the mainland, they also claim that Taiwan is part of China and therefore Senkaku islands which belong to Taiwan are also part of China. So it is a very complicated picture and it is difficult to develop a consensus. But for ordinary citizens and the informed citizenship, it is important to understand the interaction among those complicated claims and that is one of the motivations for my research.
The Senkaku Islands disputes is part of a broader geopolitical rivalry for the growth of China. China has been pursuing its naval buildup for about 20, 30 years – and East China and the East China Sea are important areas of its defense buildup. And therefore, China sees East China Sea as a gate or an exit – and power and broader access to the Pacific Ocean. And it’s the existence of the US/Japan alliance, which is blocking China’s expansion power the Pacific area.
As I’m working on this project, there is a possibility that the politicians of different countries including the US, Japan, and China may refer to the Senkaku disputes more explicitly in their press conferences on social media statements. And therefore, there is always a possibility the Senkaku may reemerge as one of the most complicated obstacles in U.S., Japan, China diplomatic relations, and it is important for scholars and analysts to continue to monitor the behavior of governments and then inform citizens of the importance of the awareness of the complexity of this problem.
About Dr. Yukinori Komine
Dr. Yukinori Komine is an Associate Professor of International Relations, School of Security and Global Studies, at American Military University. He is also an Associate in Research at the Edwin O. Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies at Harvard University. He is an internationally trained political scientist whose area of expertise is U.S. foreign policy and international relations of the Asia-Pacific region.
Dr. Komine’s published books include: Negotiating the U.S.-Japan Alliance: Japan Confidential.
Comments are closed.