Sovereignty Over the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands: A Guide to the Legal Debate

When domestic interests and norms undermine the rules-based order: Reassessing Japan's attitude toward international law

“…It is now typically seen as a conflict between Japan and China, but historically the dispute area included nearby Okinawa and Taiwan. This section draws from legal scholarship such as Matsushima (2020), Shimada (2014), Saito (2020), Suganuma (2000), Scoville (2014), Harry (2013), Lee (2002), Lee (2013), Gan (2016) and others (Vogel, 2019; Streich 2019; McCormack 2012; Sato, 2019). The historical claims of original sovereignty over the islands of both sides—expressed in statements by both foreign ministries—are summarized and acknowledged without commenting on their merit or accuracy.…”

“…After a study reported gas and oil deposits in the vicinity of the Senkakus, both China and Taiwan made claims to the islands, arguing that they were historically part of Taiwan, illegally annexed by Japan in 1895 (Bukh, 2018). According to legal scholar Scoville (2014), the 1970s are-in terms of international law-a key milestone because "This is the point at which the parties understood the economic stakes of sovereignty and began to assert competing claims" (p. 584). Thus, on 8 March 1972-two months before the reversion of Okinawa-the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) outlined its official legal claim to the islands as follows in a statement: "1.…”

Kampen om idémessige forklaringer på japansk sikkerhetspolitikk: Kina i Japans identitetskonstruksjon

“…Gitt de overordnede implikasjonene av konflikten for kinesisk-japanske relasjoner har nyere studier fokusert på de politiske (Hughes 2009a;Togo 2014;Hook 2014;Midford 2015;Koga 2016), økonomiske (Koo 2009;Inoma 2011), historiske (Kawashima 2013;Manicom 2014), militaere (Yamada 2010;Katsumata 2010;Ō mori 2011;Suzuki 2012) og juridiske (Suganuma 2000;Scoville 2015) aspektene. Selv om det nå finnes en omfattende litteratur om Senkakukonflikten, har mye av forskningen røtter i den realistiske tradisjonen.…”