People who are not even interested in politics have heard the name "Senkaku" many times. Indeed, over this tiny archipelago, the total area of the islands of which is only about 7 square kilometers, there is a tense territorial dispute between the People's Republic of China and Japan. In addition, the island of Taiwan, which is considered an independent state of the Republic of China, claims its rights to this archipelago.
Location and history of the Senkaku archipelago
The archipelago with such a beautiful name as Senkaku is located in the East China Sea, 170 kilometers northeast of the coast of Taiwan. About the same distance separates it from the Japanese islands of Ishigaki, Miyakojima and some others located far southwest of the main territory of Japan. For tourists, the island is not interesting, because there is absolutely nothing to look at Senkaku. These are tiny tracts of land, unremarkable. There are no curious natural sites or architectural and historical monuments. The Japanese used them for some time as a base for fishermen, but they stopped a long time ago due to unprofitability.
According to the official Japanese version, the Senkaku Islands were uninhabited for a long time. On this basis, and also because there were no signs of finding these islands under the jurisdiction of any country, in 1895, the Japanese government, based on international law, announced that the Senkaku archipelago was now part of their state.
In fairness, it is necessary to clarify that Japan also based its actions on the "right of the strong", since China had recently suffered defeat in the war with it.
However, as a result of the Second World War, Japan, which agreed to unconditional surrender, lost all the territories acquired since the end of the 19th century. The large island of Okinawa, which occupies an extremely advantageous position, also came under US jurisdiction, along with the Senkaku archipelago. Only in the early 70s did the Americans return these territories to the Japanese.
It would seem that from now on, the belonging of the Senkaku archipelago to Japan does not and will not cause doubts. But in the early 90s, the People's Republic of China, which by that time had become one of the world leaders, announced that it did not recognize Japanese sovereignty over this archipelago and considered the Diaoyu Islands (the Chinese name for the archipelago) part of its own territory.
The first doubts about the legitimacy of Japanese sovereignty over the archipelago were raised by the Taiwan government in the early 1970s, but they did not attract attention.
Reasons for the current territorial dispute between China and Japan
But why did the seemingly unremarkable tiny islands suddenly become a "bone of contention"? Geologists have discovered that the offshore shelf around the Senkaku Islands contains large reserves of oil and gas. And the rapidly developing economy of China needs a lot of energy resources, the purchase of which abroad takes huge amounts of money. Therefore, the PRC is trying to assert its sovereignty over these islands in order to start producing oil and gas legally. However, the Chinese do not advertise their goals related to oil and gas production.
