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Japan-China Dispute: The Eight Islands of the Senkaku/Diaoyu Group (Aerial Photos)

Map of the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands, disputed between Japan, China, and Taiwan; includes location as well as detail of islands
Map of the disputed Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands (by Evan Centanni). Click to view at full size.

Article by Evan Centanni

The Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands
A recent feature on Political Geography Now introduced the history and status of the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands, a disputed territory controlled by Japan but claimed by China and Taiwan. The article included an original map which showed the isles’ configuration and precise location within the East China Sea (click on the map at right to see it at full size). But if you’re like me, you may be wondering “just how small are these islands, and what do they really look like?”

Luckily for you and me, aerial photographs of many places in Japan have been released by the Japanese government and uploaded with English labels to Wikimedia Commons. Included in the collection are shots of each of the disputed isles, known as the Senkaku Islands to the Japanese, the Diaoyu Islands to the Chinese, and the Diaoyutai Isands to the Taiwanese. Here are the photos and a brief profile of each island:

Aerial photo of Uotsuri-shima (魚釣島)/Diàoyúdǎo (钓鱼岛)/Diàoyútái (釣魚臺), the largest of the Senkaku/Diaoyu islands disputed between Japan, China, and Taiwan

Japanese: Uotsuri-shima (魚釣島)
Chinese (China): Diàoyúdǎo (钓鱼岛)
Chinese (Taiwan): Diàoyútái (釣魚臺)
Area: 4.32 km2 (1.67 mi2)
Highest Point: 383 m (1,257 ft.)
The largest isle in the disputed archipelago, Uotsori has been a center of historical activity in the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands. It was the site of a Japanese fish-processing plant from about 1900-1940, when it hosted 200 workers. Since then it has been uninhabited, but was visited by a Japanese academic-governmental delegation for four weeks in 1979.

The island was one of four sold to the Kurihara family in the 1970s. The Japanese government rented the island from 2002, before finally buying it from the family last year. Though the island is no longer inhabited by humans, it is home to a population of domestic goats and albatross, as well as a species of mole found nowhere else on earth. Once called “Peaks Island” by the British, the current name means “Fishing Island” in both Japanese and Chinese (the name used by Taiwan is literally “Fishing Platform”). (photo source)

Aerial photo of Kita-kojima (北小島)/Běi Xiǎodǎo (北小島/北小岛) and Minami-kojima (南小島)/Nán Xiǎodǎo (南小島/南小岛), two major parts of the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands disputed between Japan, China, and Taiwan

Japanese: Kita-kojima (北小島)
Chinese: Běi Xiǎodǎo (北小島/北小岛)
Area: 0.33 km2 (0.13 mi2)
Highest Point: 135 m (443 ft.)

Japanese: Minami-kojima (南小島)
Chinese: Nán Xiǎodǎo (南小島/南小岛)
Area: 0.46 km2 (0.18 mi2)
Highest Point: 149 m (489 ft.)
These are the only other major islands in the main cluster of the Senkakus. Like Uotsuri, they were sold to the Kurihara family in the 1970s, rented by the Japanese government from 2002, and bought by the government in 2012. The islands’ names are written the same in both Japanese and Chinese, and mean “Northern Little Island” and “Southern Little Island” respectively. (photo source) 

Aerial photo of Oki-no-Kita-iwa (沖の北岩)/Běiyǔ (北屿)/Chōng Běiyán (沖北岩)/Dà Běi Xiǎodǎo (大北小島)/Běiyán (北岩), group of rocks which form part of the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands disputed between Japan, China, and Taiwan

Japanese: Oki-no-Kita-iwa (沖の北岩)
Chinese (China): Běiyǔ (北屿)
Chinese (Taiwan): Chōng Běiyán (沖北岩)
Other Chinese Names: Dà Běi Xiǎodǎo (大北小島), Běiyán (北岩)
Area: 0.02 km2 (0.01 mi2)
Highest Point: 28 m (92 ft.)
This is actually a small group of islets located in the northeast of the Senkaku Islands’ main cluster. It consists mainly of barren rocks, and has apparently never been privately owned. The Japanese and various Chinese names are variations on “Northern Islet” or “Northern Rock”; yet one name, Dà Běi Xiǎodǎo, means “Big Northern Little Island”, seeming ironically to imply that it outsizes the much larger Běi Xiǎodǎo (Kita-kojima). (photo source) 

Aerial photo of Oki-no-Minami-iwa (沖の南岩)/Nányǔ (南屿)/Chōng Nányán (沖南岩)/Dà Nán Xiǎodǎo (大南小島)/Nányán (南岩), group of rocks which form part of the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands disputed between Japan, China, and Taiwan

Japanese: Oki-no-Minami-iwa (沖の南岩)
Chinese (China): Nányǔ (南屿)
Chinese (Taiwan): Chōng Nányán (沖南岩)
Other Chinese Names: Nán Běi Xiǎodǎo (大南小島), Nányán (南岩)
Area: 0.005 km2 (0.002 mi2)
Highest Point: 13 m (43 ft.)
Located at the eastern edge of the main cluster of the Senkaku Islands, this another barren rock which has apparently never been privately owned. Its names in Japanese and Chinese present it as the southern counterpart to Oki-no-Kita-iwa. (photo source)

Aerial photo of Tobise (飛瀬)/Fēiyǔ (飞屿)/Fēilài (飛瀨)/Fēiyán (飛岩)/Fēijiāoyán (飛礁岩), a reef which forms part of the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands disputed between Japan, China, and Taiwan

Japanese: Tobise (飛瀬)
Chinese (China): Fēiyǔ (飞屿)
Chinese (Taiwan): Fēilài (飛瀨)
Other Chinese Names: Fēiyán (飛岩), Fēijiāoyán (飛礁岩)
Area: 0.0008 km2 (0.0003 mi2)
Highest Point: 2 m (7 ft.)
Tobise is a cluster of rocks located just southeast of Uotsuri, the biggest island of the Senkakus. Although the area of shallow water surrounding it gives it a larger profile on some maps, according to the Taiwan government’s measurements it is the smallest of the eight major named isles of the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands. It is also the lowest, protruding little farther above the water than the height of a person. Its Japanese and Chinese names all translate to something like “flying shoals” or “flying reef”. (photo source)

Aerial photo of Kuba-shima (久場島)/Huángwěiyǔ (黃尾嶼/黄尾屿), one of the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands disputed between Japan, China, and Taiwan

Japanese: Kuba-shima (久場島)
Chinese: Huángwěiyǔ (黃尾嶼/黄尾屿)
Area: 1.08 km2 (0.42 mi2)
Highest Point: 117 m (384 ft.) Kuba is the second largest of the Senkaku Islands, located to the north of the main cluster. In the 1970s, it was sold to the Kurihara family along with the three major islands of the main group, but was owned by the sister of the man who the other three belonged to. Today it is still owned by the family, but rented by Japan’s Ministry of Defense. The Japanese in turn allow the U.S. military to use it as a practice bombing range for aircraft. “Kuba” is a Japanese surname, and the Chinese name means “Yellow-tail Islet”. (photo source)

Aerial photo of Taishō-to (大正島)/Chìwěiyǔ (赤尾嶼/赤尾屿), one of the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands disputed between Japan, China, and Taiwan

Japanese: Taishō-to (大正島)
Chinese: Chìwěiyǔ (赤尾嶼/赤尾屿)
Area: 0.06 km2 (0.02 mi2)
Highest Point: 75 m (246 ft.)
Taisho is the most distant of the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands, located over 100 km (60 mi) to the east of the main group. A relatively high island for its size, it has been continuously owned by the Japanese government since Japan formally took possession of the islands in 1895. In Japanese, the island is probably named after Emperor Taishō, the Emperor of Japan at the time when the Senkakus were annexed and developed. The Chinese name means “Red-tail Islet”. (photo source)

(Photos from Wikimedia Commons, based on National Land Image Information (Color Aerial Photographs), Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism of Japan. Used under terms of copyright.)

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Disputed Territory: The Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands

You may have heard the news about China and Japan’s ongoing territorial dispute over a group of islands in the East China Sea. But what are the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands, and why are they so fiercely contested? Read on for all these answers and more!

Map of the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands, disputed between Japan, China, and Taiwan; includes location as well as detail of islands
Map of the disputed Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands (by Evan Centanni).

Article by Omar Alkhalili

About the Islands
The Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands are a collection of five small islets and three rocks in the East China Sea, all of which are uninhabited. The largest of the islands has an area of 4.32 km² and the smallest is only 0.45 km². They are located about 140 km from the nearest inhabited Japanese islands, 300 km from mainland China and 170 km from Taiwan. They are administered by Japan but claimed by both the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and Taiwan, whose government is known officially as the Republic of China (ROC).

Map of the location of the disputed Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands within Asia
Location of the disputed Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands in Asia
Public domain graphic (source)

In English, the islets have historically been referred to as the Pinnacle Islands, but are now more often called by their Japanese and Chinese names. In Japan, they are known as the Senkaku Islands, whereas in mainland China they are called the Diaoyu Islands and in Taiwan they are referred to as the Diaoyutai (Tiaoyutai) Islands. They are administered by Japan as part of Ishigaki, a municipality in Okinawa Prefecture, while the PRC and ROC both consider them part of Toucheng township in Taiwan’s Yilan County, despite the fact that the two rival governments do not recognize each other.

While it considers the islands part of Ishigaki, Japan’s central government does not allow the city to develop or survey them. Four of the islands have been privately owned since 1932, but the government bought three of them last year after renting them for some time. One of the privately owned islands is still leased to the Japanese Ministry of Defense, which has allowed the United States military to use it as a practice bombing range for aircraft.

History of Claims and Control

Territory Name:  
• Senkaku-shotō (Japanese)
• Diàoyúdǎo (Mandarin – China)
• Diàoyútái (Mandarin – Taiwan)
• Pinnacle Islands (English – historical) 
Claimants: 
• Japan
• China (People’s Republic of China)
• Taiwan (Republic of China)
Actual Control: Japan
Administrative Status: Part of the country
Capital: N/A (uninhabited)

Japan, mainland China and Taiwan all root their claims to the Senkakus/Diaoyus in the region’s history. China was aware of the islands’ existence since the 15th century, and the PRC and ROC claim that the islands have been part of Chinese territory since at least the 16th century. However, the Japanese government holds that when it surveyed the islands in the late 1800s, they were uninhabited and showed no signs of having been under Chinese administration.

Japan took control of the islands in 1895, and with the exception of the American occupation of Japan from 1945 to 1972, has held onto them ever since. Both Chinas now consider the islands to be part of Taiwan province, which China ceded to Japan in 1895 after the First Sino-Japanese War. However, they hold that Japan returned the rights to the islands to China by surrendering to the Allied Powers at the end of World War II. Japan insists that these islands were not part of the territory that it gave up in surrendering, arguing that they were always considered part of the Ryukyu island chain rather than Taiwan. China and Taiwan did not voice their claim to the Senkaku/Diaoyu islands until after the U.S. occupation Okinawa ended in 1972.

On top of the historical claims, various economic issues complicate the dispute. The islands’ territorial waters include rich fishing grounds and lie along the path of strategically important shipping lanes. Potential oil reserves have also been identified nearby.

Current Dispute
In recent years, tensions over the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands have flared between Japan and both Chinese governments. After a series of incidents in 1996 that included Japanese activists installing a light house on one of the islands and the death of a Chinese activist due to drowning, there have been continued instances of Chinese activists attempting to sail to the islands, resulting in their arrest and detention.

Aerial view of two of the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands disputed between Japan, China, and Taiwan
Aerial photo of Kita-kojima/Bei Xiaodao and Minami-kojima/Nan Xiaodao in the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands
(Courtesy of Japan National Land Image Information (Color Aerial Photographs, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism; source)

In 2010, an incident involving the detention of a Chinese ship crew precipitated mass protests in Chinese cities. Two years later, before the Japanese government’s purchase of three of the islands, the then Governor of Tokyo came up with his own plan to buy the islands, sparking protests in China and resulting in the detention of a group of activists from Hong Kong. Mainland China has challenged Japanese control of the islands through incursions into their territorial waters and airspace. In 2013, the mainland government announced that it plans to survey the islands in order to safeguard its maritime interests.

Recently, some progress has been made in resolving the dispute, with Japan and Taiwan arriving at an agreement allowing Taiwanese fishermen access to a large portion of the island’s surrounding waters. This agreement may create an obstacle for mainland China as its government becomes isolated in its efforts to challenge Japanese control. However, Taiwan still retains its claims to the Senkakus/Diaoyus, and there is no clear end in sight for the dispute between the three governments.

Omar Alkhalili is a contributor to Political Geography Now. He is a graduate of Ramapo College of New Jersey with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Political Science. He can be reached at omaralkha@gmail.com.

See Also: The Eight Islands of the Senkaku/Diaoyu Group (profiles and aerial photos)

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