"Q&A on the Senkaku Islands," Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, December 9, 2010.

This is taken from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan website, shortly after a Sino-Japanese dispute over the arrest of Chinese fishermen in the Senkaku Islands in September 2010:

"Q1: What is the basic view of the Government of Japan on the Senkaku Islands?

A1:

There is no doubt that the Senkaku Islands are clearly an inherent territory of Japan, in light of historical facts and based upon international law. Indeed, the Senkaku Islands are under the valid control of Japan. There exists no issue of territorial sovereignty to be resolved concerning the Senkaku Islands.

Q2: What are the grounds for Japan's territorial sovereignty over the Senkaku Islands?

A2:

1. From 1885 on, surveys of the Senkaku Islands had been thoroughly made by the Government of Japan by the agencies of Okinawa Prefecture and by way of other methods. Through these surveys, it was confirmed that the Senkaku Islands had been uninhabited and showed no trace of having been under the control of the Qing Dynasty of China. Based on this confirmation, the Government of Japan made a Cabinet Decision on 14 January 1895 to erect a marker on the Islands to formally incorporate the Senkaku Islands into the territory of Japan. These measures were carried out in accordance with the ways of duly acquiring territorial sovereignty under international law.
2. Since then, the Senkaku Islands have continuously remained as an integral part of the Nansei Shoto which are the territory of Japan. These islands were neither part of the island of Formosa nor part of the Pescadores Islands which were ceded to Japan from the Qing Dynasty of China in accordance with Article 2 of the Treaty of Shimonoseki which came into effect in May of 1895. Accordingly, the Senkaku Islands are not included in the territory which Japan renounced under Article 2 of the San Francisco Peace Treaty. The Senkaku Islands have been placed under the administration of the United States of America as part of the Nansei Shoto Islands, in accordance with Article 3 of the said treaty, and are included in the area for which the administrative rights were reverted to Japan in accordance with the Agreement between Japan and the United States of America Concerning the Ryukyu Islands and the Daito Islands signed in 1971.
3.  

[Reference: Article 2 of the San Francisco Peace Treaty]

(b) Japan renounces all right, title and claim to Formosa and the Pescadores.

[Reference: Article 3 of the San Francisco Peace Treaty]

Japan will concur in any proposal of the United States to the United Nations to place under its trusteeship system, with the United States as the sole administering authority, Nansei Shoto south of 29° north latitude (including the Ryukyu Islands and the Daito Islands), Nanpo Shoto south of Sofu Gan (including the Bonin Islands, Rosario Island and the Volcano Islands) and Parece Vela and Marcus Island. Pending the making of such a proposal and affirmative action thereon, the United States will have the right to exercise all and any powers of administration, legislation and jurisdiction over the territory and inhabitants of these islands, including their territorial waters.

[Reference: Article I of the Agreement between Japan and the United States of America Concerning the Ryukyu Islands and the Daito Islands]

2. For the purpose of this Agreement, the term "the Ryukyu Islands and the Daito Islands" means all the territories and their territorial waters with respect to which the right to exercise all and any powers of administration, legislation and jurisdiction was accorded to the United States of America under Article 3 of the Treaty of Peace with Japan other than those with respect to which such right has already been returned to Japan in accordance with the Agreement concerning the Amami Islands and the Agreement concerning Nanpo Shoto and Other Islands signed between Japan and the United States of America, respectively on December 24, 1953 and April 5, 1968.

[Reference: Article II of the Agreement between Japan and the United States of America Concerning the Ryukyu Islands and the Daito Islands]

It is confirmed that treaties, conventions and other agreements concluded between Japan and the United States of America, including, but without limitation, the Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security between Japan and the United States of America signed at Washington on January 19, 1960 and its related arrangements and the Treaty of Friendship, Commerce and Navigation between Japan and the United States of America signed at Tokyo on April 2, 1953, become applicable to the Ryukyu Islands and the Daito Islands as of the date of entry into force of this Agreement.

[Reference: Agreement between Japan and the United States of America concerning the Ryukyu Islands and the Daito Islands (Agreed Minutes)]

Regarding Article I:

The territories defined in paragraph 2 of Article I are the territories under the administration of the United States of America under Article 3 of the Treaty of Peace with Japan, and are, as designated under Civil Administration Proclamation Number 27 of December 25, 1953, all of those islands, islets, atolls and rocks situated in an area bounded by the straight lines connecting the following coordinates in the listed order:

North latitude

East Longitude

28 degrees

124 degrees 40 minutes

24 degrees

122 degrees

24 degrees

133 degrees

27 degrees

131 degrees 50 minutes

27 degrees

128 degrees 18 minutes

28 degrees

128 degrees 18 minutes

28 degrees

124 degrees 40minutes

Q3: What are the concrete examples of Japan's valid control over the Senkaku Islands?

A3:

1. A resident of Okinawa Prefecture who had been engaging in activities such as fishery around the Senkaku Islands since around 1884 made an application for the lease of the islands, and approval was granted by the Meiji Government in 1896. After this approval, he sent workers to those islands and ran the following businesses: collecting bird feathers, manufacturing dried bonito, collecting coral, raising cattle, manufacturing canned goods and collecting mineral phosphate guano (bird manure for fuel use). The fact that the Meiji Government gave approval concerning the use of the Senkaku Islands to an individual, who in turn was able to openly run these businesses mentioned above based on the approval, demonstrates Japan's valid control over the Islands.
2. Before World War II, the Central Government and the Government of Okinawa Prefecture conducted activities such as field surveys on the Senkaku Islands.
3. After World War II, as the Senkaku Islands had been placed under the administration of the United States as part of Nansei Shoto in accordance with Article 3 of the San Francisco Peace Treaty, Japan could not exercise direct control over the Islands until the administrative rights were reverted to Japan in 1972. However, even during this period, the Islands remained as part of the territory of Japan, and this legal status of the Islands, which was that no third state had rights over them, with the only exception of the administrative rights which the United States was authorized to exercise over the Islands under the San Francisco Peace Treaty, was ensured through the valid control by the United States Civil Administration of the Ryukyu Islands and the Government of the Ryukyu Islands.
4. The following are some examples of valid control after the reversion to Japan of the administrative rights over Okinawa including the Senkaku Islands.
   1. (1) Patrol and law enforcement. (e.g. law enforcement on illegal fishing)
   2. (2) Levying taxes on the owners of the Islands under private ownership. (in Uotsuri Island, Kuba Island, etc.)
   3. (3) Management as state-owned land (in Taisho Island, etc.)
   4. (4) Researches by the Central Government and the Government of Okinawa Prefecture (e.g. Utilization and development research by Okinawa Development Agency (construction of temporary heliport etc.) (1979), Research on albatrosses commissioned by the Environment Agency (1994), Fishery research by the Okinawa Prefecture (1981).).

The views of the Japanese Government on China's (and Taiwan's) assertions

Q4: What is the view of the Government of Japan on China's (and Taiwan's) assertions on territorial sovereignty over the Senkaku Islands?

A4:

1. None of the points raised by the Government of China and the Taiwanese authorities as historical, geographical or geological evidences provide valid grounds in light of international law to support their title for the Islands.
2. It is only since the 1970s that the Government of China and the Taiwanese Authorities began making their own assertions on territorial sovereignty over the Senkaku Islands, which constitute Japan's inherent territory (See reference). Until then, they had never expressed any objections, including to the fact that the Islands were included in the area over which the United States exercised the administrative rights in accordance with Article 3 of the San Francisco Peace Treaty.
3. There is a description of "the Senkaku Islands, Yaeyama District, Okinawa Prefecture, Empire of Japan" in the letter of appreciation dated May 1920 sent from the then consul of the Republic of China in Nagasaki concerning the distress which involved Chinese fishermen from Fujian Province around the Senkaku Islands. In addition, an article in the People's Daily dated 8 January 1953, under the title of "Battle of people in the Ryukyu Islands against the U.S. occupation", made clear that the Ryukyu Islands consist of 7 groups of islands including the Senkaku Islands. Moreover, "World Atlas" published in China in 1960 treated the Senkaku Islands as part of Okinawa.

[Reference: Background of China's (and Taiwan's) assertions]

In the autumn of 1968, an academic survey conducted with the cooperation of the United Nations Economic Commission for Asia and the Far East (ECAFE) indicated the possibility of the existence of petroleum resources on the East China Sea, and attention was focused on the Senkaku Islands.

[Reference: Letter of appreciation from the consul of the Republic of China in Nagasaki] (provisional translation)

In the winter of the 8th year (1919) of the Republic of China, 31 fishermen from Hui'an Country, Fujian Province were lost due to the stormy wind and were washed ashore on the Wayo Island, of the Senkaku Islands, Yaeyama District, Okinawa Prefecture, Empire of Japan.

Thanks to the enthusiastic rescue work by the people of Ishigaki village, Yaeyama District, Empire of Japan, they were able to safely return to their homeland. With a deep response and admiration toward the people of the village who were willing and generous in the rescue operation, I express my gratitude by this letter.

Consul of the Republic of China in Nagasaki 馮冕
20 May, the 9th year (1920) of the Republic of China

[Reference: The article on the People's Daily titled "Battle of people in the Ryukyu Islands against the U.S. occupation", dated 8 January1953] (Excerpt, provisional translation)

"The Ryukyu Islands lie scattered on the sea between the Northeast of Taiwan of our State (note: China; same in the following text) and the Southwest of Kyushu, Japan. They consist of 7 groups of islands; the Senkaku Islands, the Sakishima Islands, the Daito Islands, the Okinawa Islands, the Oshima Islands, the Tokara Islands and the Osumi Islands. Each of them consists of a lot of small and large islands and there are more than 50 islands with names and about 400 islands without names. Overall they cover 4,670 square kilometers. The largest of them is the Okinawa Island in the Okinawa Islands, which covers 1,211 square kilometers. The second largest is the Amami Oshima Island in the Oshima Islands (the Amami Islands), which covers 730 square kilometers. The Ryukyu Islands stretch over 1,000 kilometers, inside of which is our East China Sea (the East Sea in Chinese) and outside of which is the high seas of the Pacific Ocean."

Q5: Weren't the Senkaku Islands ceded to Japan with Taiwan as islands appertaining or belonging to the island of Formosa, in accordance with the Shimonoseki Treaty after the Sino-Japanese War?

A5:

1. The Government of Japan made a Cabinet Decision on 14 January 1895 to formally incorporate the Senkaku islands into the territory of Japan, while the island of Formosa and the islands appertaining or belonging to it were ceded to Japan by the Qing Dynasty of China in accordance with the Treaty of Shimonoseki which was signed in April 1895. Therefore it is clear that such assertion cannot stand logically in the first place.
2. Although the Treaty of Shimonoseki does not clearly define the geographical limits of the island of Formosa and the islands appertaining or belonging to Formosa ceded to Japan by the Qing Dynasty of China, nothing in the negotiation history (or otherwise) supports the interpretation that the Senkaku Islands are included in the island of Formosa and the islands appertaining or belonging to it in the Treaty (Article 2 b).
3. Furthermore, Japan had already undertaken preparation, from even before the Sino-Japanese War, to formally incorporate the Senkaku Islands into the territory of Japan while carefully ascertaining that no state including the Qing Dynasty of China had control over the Islands. Following the Cabinet Decision in 1895, the Government of Japan consistently treated the Islands as part of Okinawa Prefecture, not as an area under the jurisdiction of the Governor-General of Taiwan ceded to Japan after the Sino-Japanese War. These facts make it clear that, both before and after the Sino-Japanese War, the Government of Japan has never regarded or treated the Senkaku Islands as part of the island of Formosa or islands appertaining or belonging to the island of Formosa, which had been part of the Qing Dynasty of China. Thus, it is evident that the Senkaku Islands could never have been part of the cession made under the Treaty of Shimonoseki.
4. After that, Japan renounced the territorial sovereignty over the Formosa (Taiwan) and the Pescadores ceded by China after the Sino-Japanese War, in accordance with Article 2 (b) of the San Francisco Peace Treaty. It is clear that the Senkaku Islands were not included in "the Formosa and the Pescadores", by the fact that the United States actually exercised the administrative rights over the Senkaku Islands as part of the Nansei Shoto in accordance with Article 3 of the San Francisco Peace Treaty, and that the Islands were explicitly included in the areas of which administrative rights reverted to Japan in1972.

[Reference: Article 2 of the Shimonoseki Treaty]

China cedes to Japan in perpetuity and full sovereignty, the following territories together with all fortifications, arsenals and public property thereon:

1. a) (omitted)
2. b) The Island of Formosa together with all islands appertaining or belonging to the said Island of Formosa.
3. c) The Pescadores Group, that is to say, all Islands lying between the 119th and 120th degrees of longitude east of Greenwich and the 23rd and 24th degrees of north latitude.

Q6: Had the Senkaku Islands not been the territory of China already, rather than a terra nullius, when Japan incorporated them into its territory?

A6:

Japan incorporated the Islands into Okinawa Prefecture after conducting thorough surveys from 1885 on, while ascertaining carefully that these islands had been uninhabited and showed no trace of having been under the control of any state including China. It was only after 1970 that China and Taiwan began raising questions on the Senkaku Islands, arguing that they had belonged to the State of China originally, but none of the points raised by China and Taiwan provides valid grounds, in light of international law, to support their arguments that they had validly possessed the Senkaku Islands. It is clear that in any case neither China nor Taiwan had previously regarded the Islands as their territory, as they expressed no objection, until the 1970s, to the fact that the Senkaku Islands had been included in the areas under the administration of the United States in accordance with Article 3 of the San Francisco Peace Treaty after World War II."