Tokyo, Japan - For those who reduce the dispute over the five islets in the East China Sea to a bilateral spat between a rising China and a declining Japan, last month's water-cannon battle between the Japan Coast Guard and a huge
Tokyo, Japan - For those who reduce the dispute over the five islets in the East China Sea to a bilateral spat between a rising China and a declining Japan, last month's water-cannon battle between the Japan Coast Guard and a huge fleet of Taiwanese fishing boats and patrol vessels came as a surprise.
Three parties are now involved in the dispute over the islands called “Senkaku” by the Japanese, “Diaoyu” in mainland China, and “Diaoyutai” in Taiwan, which makes any possible resolution of the territorial ownership question all that more difficult.
"The Republic of China is a peace-loving nation, but our government will spare no effort to defend our national sovereignty and to safeguard the security of our fishermen. "
- Taiwan President Ma Ying-Jeou
Compared to the Asian giants of the People's Republic of China and Japan, the Republic of China - Taiwan - is a much smaller player. But it is also the one geographically closest to the contested zone.
“The Republic of China is a peace-loving nation,” declared Taiwanese President Ma Ying-Jeou last month, “but our government will spare no effort to defend our national sovereignty and to safeguard the security of our fishermen.”
Taiwan jumps in
Taiwan's approach to this issue has been characterized by a stronger emphasis on dialogue and compromise, as well as a keen concern for fishing rights in particular.
The Taiwanese legal claim to islands overlaps considerably with the position outlined by mainland China.
Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs asserts that “historical documents indicate that the Diaoyutai Islands were first discovered, named, and used by the Chinese, and thus incorporated into Chinese territory”. As a result, Japan's better documented annexation of the islands in 1895 on the basis that they were terra nullius - land belonging to no one - was false, and in fact constituted “an act of aggression that violates international law”.
Taiwan itself was taken as a Japanese colony for half a century from 1895, but Taipei believes when the Japanese occupation ended in 1945, the Diaoyutai Islands should have been returned as well.
President Ma has attempted to “play the adult” throughout the hot summer of passions over the five tiny islands, proposing his “East China Sea Peace Initiative” on August 5. It was notable, among other things, in its proposal for “sharing resources and cooperative development”, at a time when both Tokyo and Beijing had adopted absolute positions that admitted no compromise.
But it was, perhaps, Ma's moderation itself 