Senkaku-Diaoyu Islands Case Analysis

The author is addressing the debate of a small island called Senkaku-Diaoyu Islands, located northeast of Taiwan and in the East China Sea. For some time, the Islands were ignored until the Chinese, Japanese, and later Taiwanese claimed to have discovered the Senkaku-Diaoyu Islands. This debate has been brought to light once more by the purchase of some of the Islands by the Japanese. This purchase has been predicted to initiate war between the Chinese and Japanese. Each country has their own position on their claim of the Islands.
“China argues that Chinese nationals first discovered the islands in the fourteenth century, and then later returned to gather medicinal herbs and used the islands for navigational purposes. China argues that it included the islands on maps and official documents during that time and that the Ming Dynasty considered the islands to be part of China’s official territory” (Harry, p. 5). While China claims that they were the first to discover the Islands, there is no proof of this claim since nothing indicating their ownership was found.
Japanese wanted to claim the islands yet did not want to go into disagreement with China. War broke out between China and Japan in 1895 and Japan won victory over the island of Formosa and all islands belonging to it. The islands belonging to Formosa were …show more content…
Walt proposed a less practical, but nevertheless interesting, solution to the conflict. Walt suggests that Japan should resolve the situation by selling the islands to China for a large sum. Selling disputed territory to the highest bidder injects an almost Posnerian view of property rights into the realm of sovereignty. This would likely produce a permanent solution to an otherwise endless disagreement over the Senkaku-Diaoyu Islands. However, allowing states to outbid one another for disputed territory would necessarily give the wealthier states the upper hand” (Harry, p. 29). Nevertheless, each dispute resolution has its pros and