The Conflict Over the Sovereignty of the Diaoyu Islands -- between Taiwan (ROC), China (PRC), & Japan from 123 to 124.34 degrees. For the relative location of the Diaoyu Islands, they are approximately 170 kilometers northwest from Ishigakijima Island, 170 kilometers northeast of the island of Taiwan, 330 kilometers southeast of continental China, and 410 kilometers west of the island of Okinawa. Thus, they are situated more or less in the center of the sea separating Japan, China, and Taiwan. These islands were also located on the Kuroshio (black current)'s northern flow, which causes the same seasonal monsoon with Taiwan. Since the Kuroshio and Oyashio interchange around these islands, it creates a gratitude scale of whirlpool (the
Politics of the Republic of China community has led to a "political apartheid" which "harms the human rights, interests, and dignity of Taiwan’s people.". Despite the differences between Taiwan and mainland China, contact between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait has grown significantly over the past decade. The ROC has continued to relax restrictions on unofficial contacts with the PRC, and cross-Strait interaction has mushroomed. Since 1987, when the ban on travel to mainland China was lifted, Taiwan residents have made more than 10 million trips to mainland China. The ROC Bureau of Foreign Trade estimates that indirect trade with mainland China reached about US$61.639