Can you tell us the origin of the Diaoyu Islands issue?

"Information Guide" (Issue 13, 2004) The ins and outs of the Diaoyu Islands dispute

Zhang Xiao

Recently, there has been another turmoil in the waters of China's inherent territory, the Diaoyu Islands . According to reports, on March 24, seven Chinese citizens landed on the Diaoyu Islands, which belongs to Chinese territory, but were illegally detained by Japan. During their illegal detention, they were also treated inhumanely. Over the years, Japan has repeatedly violated China's sovereignty over the Diaoyu Islands. This incident is not only a serious violation of China's territorial sovereignty, but also a serious violation of the human rights of Chinese citizens. After repeated negotiations with relevant departments of the Chinese government, Japan finally released the seven Chinese citizens illegally detained by Japan on the evening of March 26. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Kong Quan pointed out that the Diaoyu Islands and their affiliated islands have been China's inherent territory since ancient times, and China has indisputable sovereignty over these islands both historically and legally.

It has always been Chinese territory

The Diaoyu Islands are located in the East China Sea about 92 nautical miles northeast of Keelung City, Taiwan Province, China. They are affiliated islands of Taiwan Province and mainly consist of Diaoyu Island, Huangwei Island, and Chiwei Island. It is composed of South Island, South Island, North Island and some reefs. The total area of ??the Diaoyu Islands is about 6.3 square kilometers, of which Diaoyu Island is the largest, covering an area of ??4.3 square kilometers.

Since ancient times, China has had indisputable sovereignty over the Diaoyu Islands and their adjacent waters. China has historical documents about the Diaoyu Islands as early as the Ming Dynasty. Japan claims that the Diaoyu Islands are under the jurisdiction of its Okinawa Prefecture, but Japan's Okinawa Prefecture was an independent Ryukyu state about 125 years ago. Before Japan annexed the Ryukyu Kingdom in 1871, China had a history of friendly exchanges with the Ryukyu Kingdom for about 500 years, and was the first to discover and name islands such as the Diaoyu Islands. There is a record about "Diaoyu Island" in the book "Shunfeng Xiangshuo" written in the first year of Yongle in the Ming Dynasty (1403). China began to send envoys to Ryukyu from Ming Taizu, that is, envoys who specifically represented the Chinese government at that time to ennoble the king of Ryukyu. In 1562, the "Coastal Mountain and Sand Map" in the book "Caohai Tubian" compiled by Hu Zongxian, the governor of Zhejiang Province in the Ming Dynasty, marked the islands along the coast of Luoyuan County and Ningde County, Fujian Province, China, including "Diaoyu Island", "Diaoyu Island" and "Diaoyu Island". Islands such as "Huangweishan" and "Chiyu".

The earliest written material in Japan to record the Diaoyu Islands is the "Map of the Three Ryukyu Provinces and Thirty-Six Islands" in the "Illustrated Notes on the Three Kingdoms" written by Lin Ziping in 1785. However, he is also based on the "Zhongshan Biography" written by Xu Baoguang, the enthroned envoy of the Kangxi Emperor of the Qing Dynasty in China. The map also uses the Chinese "Diaoyutai" as the name of the island, and marks the Diaoyu Island with the same light red color as Fujian and Zhejiang in China. out. In 1719, the Japanese scholar Arai Kimi's book "Southern Island Chronicles" mentioned that there were 36 islands under the jurisdiction of Ryukyu, but there was no Diaoyu Island among them. The Diaoyu Islands were not included in the "Corrected Complete Map of Japan by Prefectures and Counties" published in 1875. Even in 1879, when China's Beiyang Minister Li Hongzhang of the Qing Dynasty negotiated with Japan on the ownership of Ryukyu, China and Japan still confirmed that Ryukyu is composed of 36 islands, which does not include islands such as Diaoyu Islands at all.

Japan first "discovered" the Diaoyu Islands in 1884 after Japan annexed Ryukyu and changed the name of Ryukyu to "Okinawa Prefecture". This was about 500 years later than the earliest record of the island in Chinese documents. According to Japanese historical records, in 1884, Tatsushiro Koga, a native of Fukuoka, Japan, discovered that a large number of albatross inhabited "Kuba Island" (Huangwei Island), which could be sold to Europe. In 1885, he asked the Okinawa County Magistrate to allow him to open up the island. A sign was erected with the words "Huangwei Island Koga Reclamation". The Japanese government used this as a basis to claim that the Diaoyu Islands were "terra nullius" and were occupied by the Japanese first, rather than seized from China during the Sino-Japanese War of 1884-1894. This is completely inconsistent with historical reality and a distortion of history.

In 1944, Roosevelt told Stalin: "Stalin is familiar with the history of Ryukyu. He completely agrees that Ryukyu belongs to China and should be returned to China." In July 1945, on the eve of Japan's surrender, China, Britain and the United States issued a statement The Postan Proclamation stipulated that Japan's sovereignty was limited to the mainland of Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu, and Shikoku.

Japan has great ambitions

The Diaoyu Islands, located on the eastern edge of the continental shelf in the East China Sea, are difficult to mark on a map. Why does Japan insist on occupying this area that is far away from its main island and belongs to it? What about the small islands in China that are so coveted? Public opinion believes that there are two reasons for this. First, the strategic location of the Diaoyu Islands is important. After the end of the Cold War, Japan accelerated its march towards becoming a political power, trying to play a greater role and have more say in international politics. Out of its political need to become a military power, Japan attaches great importance to the extremely important strategic location of the Diaoyu Islands. If Japan occupies the Diaoyu Islands, it can set up sea and air surveillance and reconnaissance equipment and shore-based anti-ship and anti-aircraft missiles on the islands, making it easy to block important ports and air channels in northern Taiwan. If a radar is set up on the Diaoyu Islands, it can monitor the sea and airspace within a radius of 400 kilometers to 600 kilometers, and its range can reach large areas such as northern Taiwan and Fuzhou, Wenzhou and Ningbo along the mainland coast. In this way, every move of China's military may be grasped by Japan in a timely manner. If Japan establishes a military base or deploys heavy weapons on the Diaoyu Islands, it will pose a serious threat to China's national defense security.

The second is to obtain the resources of the Diaoyu Islands.

According to the provisions of the International Convention on the Law of the Sea promulgated by the United Nations in 1992, "Sovereign States shall use waters within 200 nautical miles as their exclusive economic zone." The actual value of the Diaoyu Islands is based on the island, the huge sea area with a radius of 200 nautical miles, and Marine resources such as seabed oil, minerals, and marine fisheries in the surrounding waters, as well as traffic and transportation rights in territorial waters and airspace, and future potential resources, should belong to the sovereign state. If Japan invades and occupies the Diaoyu Islands, it means that 740,000 square kilometers of maritime land in the East China Sea will be stolen by Japan. At the same time, Japan will also take possession of the rich oil and gas reserves in the Diaoyu Islands waters.

Background of the United States

The Diaoyu Islands are China’s undisputed territory. However, after World War II, Japan handed over the Diaoyu Islands to the United States for trusteeship. In 1971, the United States handed over the Diaoyu Islands to Japan. , since then, the American factor in the Diaoyu Islands turmoil has been flickering. In the 1970s, due to the turbulent movement to protect the Diaoyu Islands, the United States was forced to retract its position and admit that Japan did not have sovereignty over the Diaoyu Islands. However, news shows that the United States later privately recognized Japan's sovereignty over the Diaoyu Islands, which directly led Japan to formulate careful plans to develop the Diaoyu Islands on a large scale. Washington not only approved Japan's development of this plan, but also personally drew up several plans for Tokyo to strengthen Japan's claim to sovereignty over the Diaoyu Islands, including the dispatch of U.S. troops to the Diaoyu Islands. In recent years, the United States has appeared more and more behind the disputes between China and its maritime neighbors. Regarding the Diaoyu Islands issue, the United States is not content with stationing troops in Okinawa. It is also preparing to extend its military power to the Diaoyu Islands. This will not only interfere with China's safeguarding of the sovereignty of the Diaoyu Islands, but also build a closer link in its military "island chain" in the Western Pacific. It will also threaten Taiwan. Strait pressure.

On the issue of U.S. involvement in the Diaoyu Islands, there are two factors: "Japan's desire" and "U.S. commitment." In order to gain more leverage with China in the dispute over the sovereignty of the Diaoyu Islands, Japan has always hoped that the United States would intervene; while the United States looks forward to finding opportunities to realize its Asia strategy through cooperation with Japan, it still hopes to leave some room for specific sensitive issues.

"Put aside disputes and develop together"

China and Japan have different views on the Diaoyu Islands issue. Starting from the development of Sino-Japanese relations, the Chinese government reached an understanding with Japan during the negotiations on the normalization of diplomatic relations between China and Japan to leave this issue to be resolved later. Comrade Deng Xiaoping pointed out on October 25, 1978 that on the issue of Diaoyu Islands, we must put the overall situation first. If we can't reach an agreement, it would be wiser to avoid it. It doesn't matter if we let such an issue go. Our generation is not smart enough. The next generation will always be smarter than us and will always find a good way to solve this problem that everyone can accept. On May 31, 1979, when Comrade Deng Xiaoping met with Representative Zenyuki Suzuki of the Liberal Democratic Party who was visiting China, he emphasized that joint development of resources near the Diaoyu Islands could be considered without involving territorial sovereignty. In June of the same year, the Chinese government formally proposed to Japan through diplomatic channels the idea of ??jointly developing resources near the Diaoyu Islands, publicly stating for the first time that China was willing to resolve territorial disputes with neighboring countries through the model of "shelving disputes and jointly developing". position on disputes over maritime rights and interests.

The basic meaning of "put aside disputes and develop together" is that sovereignty belongs to us first; secondly, for territorial disputes, if the conditions for a complete resolution are not met, we can put aside the ownership of sovereignty. And shelve the dispute; shelving the dispute does not mean giving up sovereignty, but putting the dispute aside; the third is to carry out joint development of some disputed territories; fourth, the joint development of The purpose is to enhance mutual understanding through cooperation and create conditions for the final reasonable settlement of sovereignty.

The dispute over the territorial sovereignty of the Diaoyu Islands between China and Japan could have been resolved through candid, calm and pragmatic consultations between governments. However, Japan has repeatedly created troubles and tried to annex Chinese territory to Japan. This is firmly unacceptable to the Chinese people.

■