The United States and China in Power Transition - Strategic Studies ...

Figure 4-5. China-Japan Disputes in East China Sea.
This dispute has evidently affected the two nations
in their efforts to explore natural resources in the disputed
area (China’s drilling for natural gas and fossil
oil near the alleged median line and Japan’s protest is
a case in point) and the overall China-Japan relations
from time to time (when tension flairs up in the disputed
area). 145 Complicating the dispute on the maritime
delimitation was the two nations’ fight over the
sovereign ownership of the Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands
in the disputed area. Those islands consist of five tiny
uninhabited islands and three barren rocks that are
barely visible on the ocean surface. They lie at the edge
of the East China Sea continental shelf and the southern
tip of the Okinawa Trough (see the circled area
in Figure 4-5). The islands by themselves have little
material value. However, they bear high-stakes political
and economic consequences for China and Japan.
146