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

and dynastic China’s envoys made stops at
those islands on their way to China’s vassel
state, the Ryukyu island kingdom, until Japan
conquered the latter in 1879. China claims that
those islands are “intrinsically integral and
inseparable territories of China since antiquity”
(中国自古以来固有和不可分割的领土) and
“China’s sovereign ownership of those islands
[is] indisputable” (中国拥有无可争议的主权).
• Japan does not dispute China’s historical
claims, but argues that China has never exercised
effective control of those islands, and the
“physical connection” of those islands to China
is questionable and not intrinsic. Japan, for the
record, took over and had official control of
those islands from 1895 to 1945 and since 1972.
• China claims that the Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands
are part of China’s extended continental
shelf and Taiwan’s surrounding islands; Japan
“stole” Taiwan and its surrounding islands,
including the Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands, from
China through the Treaty of Shimonoseki of
1895 (马关条约); all of those islands therefore
were covered in the Cairo Declaration and the
Potsdam Proclamation and should be returned
to China.
• Japan argues that it acquired the Diaoyu/Senkaku
Islands through a Cabinet Decision prior
to the Treaty of Shimonoseki as a terra nullius,
land that is not claimed by any person or state;
they were not mentioned in the Cairo Declaration
and Potsdam Proclamation; and therefore
are not required to be returned to China.
• China condemns the United States for its inclusion
of those islands in the trusteeship in 1951 151
148