Senkaku Islands dispute

Senkaku Islands dispute is a territorial claim dispute over a group of very small islands known as the Senkaku Islands in Japan.  They are located east of China, west of Okinawa Island, northeast of Taiwan, and north of the southwestern end of the Ryukyu Islands. China has been claiming that the island belongs to it since the 14^th century.  Japan had maintained the ownership of the islands from the year 1895 till its surrender after World War II. After this, the island was under the control of the US.

In the year 1971, the Senkaku islands were returned to Japan by the US through an agreement.

Key Points

• The archipelago contains five uninhabited very small islands. It is called the Diaoyu Islands in China and Tiaoyutai Islands in Taiwan.
• Out of the 5 small islands, Uotsuri-Shima is the largest.
• The Senkaku Islands are one of only two nesting sites for the short-tailed albatross left in the world. The other one is Tori-shima, Izu Islands
• China and Japan have had a dispute over this series of uninhabited islands in the East China Sea.
• In 2014, Taiwan and Japan came to an agreement on fishing in the waters around the islands.
• Earlier this year, China and Japan have agreed to discuss the territorial dispute.

China-Japan Dispute

Recently, Japan announced that China’s growing maritime activities in the waters surrounding Japan is a threat. Both the countries have a long dispute over a series of islands known as the Senkaku islands to Japan and the Diaoyu islands to China.

Japan has pointed out a specific incident in its announcement where a Chinese vessel was in the Japanese waters for more than 57 hours.

Japan has made this announcement regarding the increasing maritime activities of China in the islands after the declaration of its plan of conducting a joint military exercise with France and the US in the sea as well as land. This will be the 1^st-ever joint military drill by the three countries- Japan, France, and the US. The drill will be conducted in the month of May next year.