The Senkaku Islands Constitute an Intrinsic Part of Japan

As we have learned in this section, the Senkaku Islands were recognized as part of
Okinawa by the U.S. Military, while the islands were administered by the Ishigaki city
office. However, after the islands again became uninhabited, their territorial waters were
not fully safeguarded. Beginning in the early 1950s, illegal fishing activities by
Taiwanese fishermen were reported. This is, in part, because Taiwan considered the
Senkaku Islands to be in a state of terra nullius.
Beginning around 1968, Taiwanese workers made illegal landings on the islands and
engaged in the salvage of sunken ships. Labeling them criminal trespassers, the
Government of Ryukyu admonished the trespassers and ordered them to leave the islands.
The jurisdiction marker erected on Uotsuri Island by Ishigaki city (1969)
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