Senkaku Islands

A group of uninhabited islands in the East China Sea, administered by Japan and claimed by China and Taiwan.

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Ryukyu Kingdom: A kingdom that ruled the Ryukyu Islands from the fifteenth century until its annexation by Japan in 1879. Japanese accounts cite historical ties between the islands and the Ryukyu domain.
Territorial sovereignty: A state's authority to govern territory and exclude other states from exercising authority there. The dispute concerns competing claims of sovereignty despite Japan’s administration.
Japan: An island country in East Asia whose government administers the Senkaku Islands. Japan maintains administrative control and rejects the rival sovereignty claims.
East China Sea: A marginal sea of the western Pacific bordered by China, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan. The islands sit within this strategically important and resource-rich maritime region.
Treaty of Shimonoseki: The 1895 treaty that ended the First Sino-Japanese War and ceded Taiwan and the Pescadores to Japan. China argues the islands were taken with Taiwan after this treaty; Japan disputes that interpretation.
United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea: The international treaty establishing rules for maritime zones, navigation, and ocean resources. The islands’ status affects claims to surrounding waters and seabed resources.
China: A country in East Asia whose government claims the Senkaku Islands as Diaoyu Dao. China contests Japan’s sovereignty claim and regularly asserts its position near the islands.
Japan–China relations: The political, economic, and security relationship between Japan and China. Confrontations over the islands repeatedly strain ties between the two governments.
Cairo Declaration: A 1943 Allied statement that Japan should be stripped of territories taken from China, including Taiwan. China and Taiwan invoke its territorial terms in arguments about the islands’ postwar status.
Exclusive economic zone: A maritime zone extending up to 200 nautical miles where a coastal state has specified resource rights. Sovereignty over the islands would influence competing maritime-zone claims.