Kitakojima and Minamikojima of Senkaku Islands.jpg

The are a group of uninhabited islands in the East China Sea, administered by Japan. They are located northeast of Taiwan, east of China, west of Okinawa Island, and north of the southwestern end of the Ryukyu Islands. They are known in mainland China as the Diaoyu Islands or Diaoyu Dao and its affiliated islands (; also simply ), in Taiwan as the Diaoyutai Islands or Tiaoyutai Islands (), and sometimes in the Western world by the historical name Pinnacle Islands. cites Hagstrom 2005; "The islands are also called 'Pinnacle Islands' for convenience and neutrality sake by Western scholars" In Okinawan they are called . In the Yaeyama language, they are called ''iigunkubajima''.

The islands are the focus of a territorial dispute between Japan and China and between Japan and Taiwan. China claims the discovery and ownership of the islands from the 14th century, while Japan maintained ownership of the islands from 1895 until its surrender at the end of World War II. The United States administered the islands as part of the United States Civil Administration of the Ryukyu Islands from 1945 until 1972, when the islands returned to Japanese control under the Okinawa Reversion Agreement between the United States and Japan. The discovery of potential undersea oil reserves in 1968 in the area was a catalyst for further interest in the disputed islands. Despite the diplomatic stalemate between China and Taiwan, both governments agree that the islands are part of Taiwan as part of Toucheng Township in Yilan County. Japan administers and controls the Senkaku islands as part of the city of Ishigaki in Okinawa Prefecture. It does not acknowledge the claims of China nor Taiwan, but it has not allowed the Ishigaki administration to develop the islands.

As a result of the dispute, the public is largely barred from approaching the uninhabited islands, which are about a seven-hour boat ride from Ishigaki. Vessels from the Japan Coast Guard pursue Chinese ships crossing the maritime boundary in what one visiting journalist described in 2012 as "an almost cold war-style game of cat-and-mouse", and fishing and other civilian boats are prevented from getting too close to avoid a provocative incident.

The Senkaku Islands are important nesting sites for seabirds, and are one of two remaining nesting sites in the world for the short-tailed albatross, alongside Tori-shima, Izu Islands.

History

Early history

Chinese records of these islands date back to as early as the 15th century when they were referred as ''Diaoyu'' in books such as ''Voyage with a Tail Wind'' () (1403) and ''Record of the Imperial Envoy's Visit to Ryūkyū'' () (1534). Adopted by the Chinese Imperial Map of the Ming Dynasty, the Chinese name for the island group ( ''Diaoyu'') and the Japanese name for the main island ( ''Uotsuri'') both mean "fishing".

Historically, the Chinese had used the uninhabited islands as navigational markers in making the voyage to the Ryukyu Kingdom upon commencement of diplomatic missions to the kingdom, "resetting the compass at a particular isle in order to reach the next one".Suganuma,

The first published description of the islands in Europe appears in a book imported by Isaac Titsingh in 1796. His small library of Japanese books included by Hayashi Shihei. This text, which was published in Japan in 1785, described the Ryūkyū Kingdom. Hayashi followed convention in giving the islands their Chinese names in his map in the text, where he coloured them in the same pink as China.

In 1832, the Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland supported the posthumous abridged publication of Titsingh's French translation.

The name, "Pinnacle Isles" was first used by James Colnett, who charted them during his 1789-1791 voyage in the ''Argonaut''. William Robert Broughton sailed past them in November 1797 during his voyage of discovery to the North Pacific in HMS ''Providence'', and referred to Diaoyu Island/Uotsuri Island as "Peaks Island". Reference was made to the islands in Edward Belcher's 1848 account of the voyages of HMS ''Sammarang''. Captain Belcher observed that "the names assigned in this region have been too hastily admitted." Belcher reported anchoring off Pinnacle Island in March 1845.

In the 1870s and 1880s, the English name Pinnacle Islands was used by the British navy for the rocks adjacent to the largest island ''Uotsuri-shima'' / ''Diaoyu Dao'' (then called 和平嶼 ''hô-pîng-sū'', "Peace Island" in Hokkien); ''Kuba-shima'' / ''Huangwei Yu'' (then called ''Ti-a-usu''); and ''Taishō-tō'' / ''Chiwei Yu''.

A Japanese navy record issued in 1886 first started to identify the islets using equivalents of the Chinese and English terms employed by the British. The name "Senkaku Retto" is not found in any Japanese historical document before 1900 (the term "Senkaku Gunto" began being used in the late 19th century), and first appeared in print in a geography journal published in 1900. It was derived from a translation of the English name Pinnacle Islands into a Sinicized Japanese term "Sento Shoto" (as opposed to "Senkaku Retto", i.e., the term used by the Japanese today), which has the same meaning.

The collective use of the name "Diaoyutai" to denote the entire group began with the advent of the controversy in the 1970s.

Control of the islands by Japan and the US

As the uninhabited islets were historically used as maritime navigational markers, they were never subjected to administrative control other than the recording of the geographical positions on maps, descriptions in official records of Chinese missions to the Ryukyu Kingdom, etc.

The Japanese central government annexed the islands in early 1895 while still fighting China in the First Sino-Japanese War. Around 1900, Japanese entrepreneur constructed a bonito fish processing plant on the islands, employing over 200 workers. The business failed around 1940 and the islands have remained deserted ever since. In the 1970s, Koga Tatsushirō's son Zenji Koga and Zenji's wife Hanako sold four islets to the Kurihara family of Saitama Prefecture. Kunioki Kurihara owned Uotsuri, Kita-Kojima, and Minami-Kojima. Kunioki's sister owned Kuba.Ito, Masami,
Owner OK with metro bid to buy disputed Senkaku Islands
, '' Japan Times'', May 18, 2012, pp. 1-2

The islands came under US government occupation in 1945 after the surrender of Japan ended World War II.Kaneko, Maya, ( Kyodo News)
Ishigaki fishermen fret over Senkaku encroachment
, '' Japan Times'', December 8, 2010, p. 3. In 1969, the United Nations Economic Commission for Asia and the Far East (ECAFE) identified potential oil and gas reserves in the vicinity of the Senkaku Islands. In 1971, the Okinawa Reversion Treaty passed the U.S. Senate, returning the islands to Japanese control in 1972.Finney, John W
"Senate Endorses Okinawa Treaty; Votes 84 to 6 for Island's Return to Japan"
''The New York Times''. November 11, 1971. Also in 1972, the Republic of China government and People's Republic of China government officially began to declare ownership of the islands. Kyodo News,
Senkaku purchase bid made official
, '' Japan Times'', September 11, 2012, p. 2

Since 1972, when the islands reverted to Japanese government control, the mayor of Ishigaki has been given civic authority over the territory. The Japanese central government, however, has prohibited Ishigaki from surveying or developing the islands.

In 1978, a Japanese political group constructed the first lighthouse on Uotsuri island and grazed two goats. Goats have since proliferated and affected the island's vegetation.

In 1979 an official delegation from the Japanese government composed of 50 academics, government officials from the Foreign and Transport ministries, officials from the now-defunct Okinawa Development Agency, and Hiroyuki Kurihara, visited the islands and camped on Uotsuri for about four weeks. The delegation surveyed the local ecosystem, finding moles and sheep, studied the local marine life, and examined whether the islands would support human habitation.

In 1988, a Japanese political group reconstructed a lighthouse on Uotsuri Island.4. Start managing the "Uotsuri Island Lighthouse" of the Senkaku Islands
Japan Coast Guard Annual Report 2005

In 2005, a Japanese fisherman who owned a lighthouse at Uotsuri Island expressed his intention to relinquish the ownership of the lighthouse, and the lighthouse became a national property pursuant to the provisions of the Civil Code of Japan. Since then, the Japan Coast Guard has maintained and managed the Uotsuri lighthouse.

From 2002 to 2012, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications paid the Kurihara family ¥25 million a year to rent Uotsuri, Minami-Kojima and Kita-Kojima. Japan's Ministry of Defense rents Kuba island for an undisclosed amount. Kuba is used by the U.S. military as a practice aircraft bombing range. Japan's central government completely owns Taisho island.

On December 17, 2010, Ishigaki declared January 14 as "Pioneering Day" to commemorate Japan's 1895 annexation of the Senkaku Islands. China condemned Ishigaki's actions. In 2012, both the Tokyo Metropolitan and Japanese central governments announced plans to negotiate purchase of Uotsuri, Kita-Kojima, and Minami-Kojima from the Kurihara family.

On September 11, 2012, the Japanese government nationalized its control over Minami-kojima, Kita-kojima, and Uotsuri islands by purchasing them from the Kurihara family for ¥2.05 billion. China's Foreign Ministry objected saying Beijing would not "sit back and watch its territorial sovereignty violated."

In 2014, Japan constructed a lighthouse and wharf featuring Japanese flag insignia on the islets.

Geography

The island group are known to consist of five uninhabited islets and three barren rocks. China has identified and named as many as 71 islets that belong to this group after the Japanese Cabinet released names of 39 uninhabited islands.

These minor features in the East China Sea are located approximately 120 nautical miles northeast of Taiwan, 200 nautical miles east of the Chinese mainland and 200 nautical miles southwest of the Japanese island of Okinawa.

According to one visitor, Uotsuri-shima, the largest of the islands, consists of a pair of rocky gray mountains with steep, boulder-strewn slopes rising almost straight from the water's edge. Other, nearby islands were described as large rocks covered by low vegetation.

In ascending order of distances, the island cluster is located:

* east of Pengjia Islet, Republic of China (Taiwan)
* north of Ishigaki Island, Japan
* northeast of Keelung, Republic of China (Taiwan)
* west of Okinawa Island, Japan

The depth of the surrounding waters of the continental shelf is approximately except for the Okinawa Trough on the south. The shelf is shallow enough that the western islands were likely connected to the mainland during the Last Glacial Period.

Geology

Uotsuri, Kitakojima, Minamikojima and surrounding islets are sedimentary in origin, predominantly consisting of probably Miocene aged sandstone and sandstone- conglomerate, with subordinate conglomerate, coal seams up to 10 centimetres thick, and rare siltstone beds. The sedimentary strata have around 300 metres of exposed thickness at Uotsuri, and have SW-NE, EW and NW-SE strikes, with a general inclination of a dip of less than 20 degrees towards the North. These strata are intruded by sheets of Mio-Pliocene

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