The China-japan Border Dispute: Islands Of Contention In Multidisciplinary Perspective (rethinking Asia And International Relations)

Crossing disciplinary boundaries, this volume offers a rare forum for a serious analysis of the territorial dispute over the Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands between China and Japan. To understand the complexity of the dispute and to find peaceful solutions, we must reach beyond the confines of a single discipline and perspective. The volume deconstructs conflicting perspectives on the two sides of the dispute. Territorial disputes often become symbolic expressions of nationalistic rivalries, particularly as political claims for territories escalate and economic competition for resources between countries intensifies. Cutting through the political rhetoric on both sides of the controversy and bringing together a group of eight scholars from the disciplines of history, international relations, law, political science, and sociology, this book analyzes the relevant history, international law, multilateral relations, political agendas, and social and collective memory, to shed light on this difficult dispute. Taken together, the chapters of the book propose short-term, medium-term, and long-term peaceful solutions for going beyond the impasse of the current territorial dispute. Cover 1 Contents 8 List of Figures 10 Notes on Contributors 12 Introduction 14 Part I Historical Considerations 26 1 Much Ado over Small Islands: The Sino-Japanese Confrontation over Senkaku/Diaoyu 28 2 Okinawa, Taiwan, and the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands in United States–Japan–China Relations 50 3 The May 26, 1971 US Diplomatic Note on the Diaoyutai Issue 70 Part II Legal Considerations 96 4 Sovereignty over the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands: A Guide to the Legal Debate 98 5 A Constructive Role for International Law in the Senkaku Islands? 128 Part III Social and Political Considerations 154 6 The Formation of Collective Memory about the Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands History in China and Japan 156 7 How Japan Benefits from the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands Dispute 174 8 Sino-Japanese Conflict and Reconciliation in the East China Sea 190 Index 212 Islands of Contention in Multidisciplinary Perspective