The Senkaku/ Diaoyu Islands Disputes In Geopolitical Analysis And Relation Between China And Japan And It's Impacts On Taiwan

Abstract

The Senkaku-Diaoyu Islands issue is an issue between China, Taiwan, and Japan. Sovereignty, maritime entry points, and rights to resources have been making the three countries struggle in a geopolitical dispute regarding the east China Sea. The islands are controlled by Japan and are strategically located close to vital sea lines of communications and have speculated huge hydrocarbon deposits. Therefore, their significance results from both economic and military motivations. Historically, China grounds its claims in both Ming and Qing dynasty evidence, which holds the islands part of integral Chinese territory; Taiwan binds the islands to its own territorial status by claims of sovereignty. The controversy escalated primarily following the acquisition by Japan's government of the islands from private ownership in 2012, broadly seen by China as an inciting act of nationalization, leading to a reciprocally skewed escalation of maritime patrols and diplomatic tensions along with nationalist mobilization in both nations. The wider strategic dimension contributed by the intervention of the US with all its defense guarantees to Japan could be understood as a last characteristic of this rivalries, symbolizing Sino-American rivalry in the region. The cross-strait situation gets even complicated because, from the Chinese point of view, China's territorial claim to Taiwan also includes the islands, whereas Japan and the U.S. indirectly sanction Taiwan's strategic importance. This additional militarization of the area destabilizes East Asian security and even risks entrapping great powers, highlighting the high-stakes nature of the issue in determining the new geopolitical contours of the Asia-Pacific.