Relating To The US usa At this point in time, the US is occupying the Ryukyu Islands, and in their minds, the Senkaku Islands as well. Early in their administration of the Ryukyus, the US set up two of the Senkaku islets as gunnery ranges, one of which they paid $11,000 in rent for in 1971. The person receiving the money, the US says, pays taxes to the Ryukyu government (remember that from the Ryukyu section?), thus making the land Ryukyu territory. The other islands, however, were considered Japanese territory, so now during the occupation the US can use them without cost. Obviously, the US considers the Senkaku Islands as Japanese. They also consider themselves occupying it. 1969: USCAR established a policy stating that US approval was necessary prior to Ryukyu (or third party) use of the tidelands or waters. Once again, US controlled. 1970: The US tried not to get involved until now, when the Taiwanese and Japanese government started to really heat up about who owned it. After making some statements on the situation, they helped to form the Tripartite Committee in the summer of 1970. The committee between national leaders in Japan, Taiwan, and South Korea (where’d you come from, South Korea?) thought it would be a good idea to create a join-venture company for ocean development. This is what triggered the 1970 Chinese accusation that the joint development plan was really a trick “instigated by Japanese militarists, aided and abetted by “the Chiang Kai-shek bandit gang and the Pak Jung Hi clique, and whose purpose was the plundering of the seabed and undersea oil resources of China and Korea (I’m guessing North Korea is what they’re talking about here). December 1970: The Tripartite Committee met again, and agreed on a broad purpose: the “planning and execution of surveys, research and development of marine resources.” They also agreed to keep their negotiations out of formal international diplomatic channels unless it seemed favorable. They agreed they’d be able to do independent surveys around the islands. Due to the domestic troubles of the various nations, though, the Tripartite Committee was falling apart. On top of this, China was expressing its concern over the whole matter, supposedly (according to the CIA) trying to delay everything until they had the technology to go out there and run their own surveys / drill their own wells. Their oil economy was still maturing, and they needed some time, so they were stalling. Mainly, though, the US played a watchful role, only stepping in when things got a little too spicy. They had their opinion, sure, but they also didn’t want to get too involved. They would have to hand off the Ryukyu Islands at some point anyways, so its best not to get your hands too dirty, right? Relating To The Cartographers world-map Apparently old maps is one way that people settle claims on what belongs to who. So, the cartographers get a say! Let me “map” the whole thing out for you. 1966: The “Red Guard” atlas published in Peking during the Cultural Revolution includes a map of the internal administrative areas of Communist China. It indicates the Senkaku Islands area as someplace that’s not within China’s border. It also indicates the Ryukyu Islands as Japanese, though there’s nothing new there. Another map in the same atlas shows Taiwan as part of China, but excludes the Senkaku Islands unlike later maps which quietly add the islands in with Taiwan as part of China. 1967: The same maps are shown in the “popular edition” of Atlas of China, a book published in Peking. In these maps, though, they also include “areas of dispute” on the maps. The Senkaku Islands are not included in these areas, so according to this map, at least, the Senkaku Islands are indisputably Japanese. 1970: After oil was discovered, Chinese maps began including the Senkaku Islands as Chinese. China’s Ministry of National Defense published an Atlas of China showing the Senkakus in both the Chinese and Japanese language. In 1962, the earlier version of this map didn’t name the islands at all. A random selection of maps printed in Europe and privately published do not indicate the area of the Senkakus to be Chinese. Also, the 1967 version of the USSR’s official Atlas Of The World specifically indicates the Senkakus to be Japanese. Who knew maps could be so useful! It’s interesting to see how they quietly change depending on what’s going on with oil and politics. Looking up the Senkaku Islands in Google Maps right now, it seems they’ve taken a safe stand on the issue. There’s both the Chinese/Taiwanese name and the Japanese one with no country attached at the end. Well played, Google Maps. Well played.
Posted on: Thu, 16 Jan 2014 08:21:39 +0000
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