Robert D. Eldridge - The Origins of U.S. Policy in the East China Sea Islands Dispute

Ownership of the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea is disputed between China and Japan, though historically the islands have been part of Okinawa, the southernmost islands of the Japanese archipelago. The dispute, which also involves Taiwan, has the potential to be a flashpoint between the two countries if relations become more strained, especially as the exploitation of gas reserves in the adjoining seabed is becoming an increasingly important issue. A key aspect of the dispute is the attitude of the United States, which, surprisingly, has so far refrained from committing itself to supporting the claims of one side or the other, despite its long-standing, strong alliance with Japan. This book charts the development of the Senkaku Islands dispute, and focuses in particular on the negotiations between the United States and Japan prior to the handing back to Japan in 1972 of Okinawa. The book shows how the detailed progress of these negotiations was critical in defining the United States neutral attitude to the dispute and the problems this position presents.

Robert D. Eldridge is a former Associate Professor of U.S.-Japan Relations at the School of International Public Policy, Osaka University, and a visiting scholar at the Okinawa Institute for Law and Politics, Okinawa International University, both in Japan.

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The Origins of U.S. Policy in the East China Sea Islands Dispute
Okinawas Reversion and the Senkaku Islands
Robert D. Eldridge

The Origins of U.S. Policy in the East China Sea Islands Dispute

Okinawas Reversion and the Senkaku Islands

Robert D. Eldridge

First published 2014
by Routledge
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by Routledge
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2014 Robert D. Eldridge

The right of Robert D. Eldridge to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Eldridge, Robert D.
The origins of U.S. policy in the East China Sea islands dispute : Okinawas reversion and the Senkaku Islands / Robert D. Eldridge
pages cm. -- (Routledge security in Asia series)
Summary: Ownership of the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea is disputed between China and Japan, though historically the islands have been part of Okinawa, the southernmost islands of the Japanese archipelago. The dispute, which also involves Taiwan, has the potential to be a flashpoint between the two countries if relations become more strained, especially as the exploitation of gas reserves in the adjoining seabed is becoming an increasingly important issue. A key aspect of the dispute is the attitude of the United States, which, surprisingly, has so far refrained from committing itself to supporting the claims of one side or the other, despite its long-standing, strong alliance with Japan. This book charts the development of the Senkaku Islands dispute, and focuses in particular on the negotiations between the United States and Japan prior to the handing back to Japan in 1970 of Okinawa. The book shows how the detailed progress of these negotiations was critical in defining the United States neutral attitude to the dispute -- Provided by publisher.
Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Senkaku Islands--International status. 2. Okinawa Island
(Japan)--International status. 3. United States--Foreign relations--Japan. 4. Japan--Foreign relations--United States. 5. United States--Foreign relations--China. 6. China--Foreign relations--United States. I. Title.
KZ3881.S46E43 2014
952'.29--dc23
2013024065

ISBN: 978-0-415-62926-3 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-86292-7 (ebk)

Typeset in Times New Roman
by Taylor & Francis Books

Figures

Tables

(Images in this book were sourced from Ishigaki City publications and the U.S.National Archives collections with their permission as well as from privatedonors and the authors collection.)

In the preface to my book on the Iwo Jima and the Bonin Islands I wrote, this is a book I never planned to write. If that feeling were true then for that work, it is especially applicable for this book on the Senkaku Islands.

I initially looked at the increasingly regular flare-ups of the Senkaku Islands dispute as essentially one between Japan and the Peoples Republic of China and the Republic of China (Taiwan), and not one that fit the paradigm of my intra-alliance studies of non-traditional territorial disputesnamely the retention of administrative control over another countrys territory following a peace treatybetween Japan and my country, the United Statesthat my earlier books on Okinawa, the Amami Islands, and Iwo Jima and the Ogasawara Islands had examined in detail.

And yet, as I delved into the history of the Senkakus more, particularly around the time of the reversion of administrative rights over Okinawa and the remainder of the Ryukyu Islands on May 15, 1972 after twenty-seven years of American occupation and administration, I realized how deeply involved the United States in fact was. True, the Senkaku Islands were not ones that the United States had large or significant bases on or seen as particularly strategically valuable to American interests at the time requiring the United States to retain absolute control over them, other than the two now-unused training ranges on Kuba Jima (otherwise known as Kobi Sho) and Taisho Jima (otherwise known as Sekibi Sho).

While the American connection is much less strong today than it was in mid-1972, it is still significant in that a military attack on the Senkaku Islands would necessarily