It’s a sheer lie that the Senkaku Islands have been Chinese territory since the Ming Dynasty
Professor SHIMOJO Masao, Takushoku University
[excerpt]
Evidence contrived by Inoue Kiyoshi about the Chinese territorial claim over the Senkaku Islands
It is simply amazing that the evidence the Chinese use to support their historical assertion was provided by a Japanese scholar. Former Kyoto University professor Inoue Kiyoshi published in 1972 a book entitled The Senkaku Islands — Historical Analysis on Diayutai Islands. In the preface to the book Inoue writes, “Did Japan rob China of the Senkaku Islands during the Sino - Japanese War?
If so, the Senkaku Islands must have been automatically returned to China, based on the territorial clause of the Potsdam
Declaration, the moment Japan unconditionally accepted the Potsdam Declaration, which was issued by the Allied countries, including China, and surrendered. If Japan were to claim once again that the Senkaku Islands are Japanese territory, it would be nothing more than a recurrence of Japanese Imperialism.”[/excerpt]
Flaws in the Chinese arguments
According to Inoue’s assertion, the evidence supporting the claim that the Senkaku Islands are Chinese territory lies in the fact that the Senkaku Islands were used as a navigational reference during the Ming Dynasty(14th to 16th century) and Qing Dynasty(17th to 20th century), when Chinese Imperial missions were sent to the tributary state, the Ryukyu Kingdom (present day Okinawa Prefecture).
In one of the voyage guide books of the Ming, Shunfen Xiangsong or Fair Winds Voyage (1403), an island named Diaoyuyu among the Senkaku Islands is seen.
China also depends on records of the Imperial missions sent to the Ryukyu Kingdom since the Ming Dynasty onward as evidence to support their assertion that the Senkaku Islands are historically Chinese territory. In Record of Mission to Ryukyu by Chen Kan (1534), Revised Record of Ryukyu Missions by Guo Rulin (1562), Assorted Record of Ryukyu Missions by Wang Ji (1683), Zhongshan Chuanxinlu by Xu Baoguang (1719), Summarized Record of Ryukyu by Zhou Huang (1756), Record of Ryukyu Missions by Li Dingyuan (1800), Continued Summary of Ryukyu by Zhai Kun (1808) and others appear
reference to the Senkaku Islands (Diayuyu or Diayutai) and in Zhongshan Chuanyinlu and Summarized Record of Ryukyu appears a “voyage chart” depicting Diayuyu, Huangweiyu and Chiweiyu.
Among these, Record of Ryukyu Mission states “Kumejima (the town of Kumejima in Okinawa Prefecture) belongs to Ryukyu,” and Assorted Record of Ryukyu Envoys designates the area between Kumejima and Chiweiyu as a “national boundary”. Based on these descriptions, China maintains that the area up to Kumejima is Ryukyu territory and that to the west of Chiweiyu, including the Senkaku Islands, is Chinese territory.
Where is the northern boundary of Taiwan?
In the autumn of 2005, Marine Country, one of the lost volumes that was a part of Six Phases of Fleet Life, was located at an antique book fair in China. In the book, there is a description: “At 5 o’clock of the 13th I saw Diayutai.” China regards this as unarguable evidence showing that the Senkaku Islands were Chinese territory.
However, there is no authentic evidence to support the assertion that the Senkaku Islands are Chinese territory, based on the description in Marine Country.
Marine Country recorded the experiences of the main character in Six Phases of Fleet Life, who accompanied Imperial Mission Zhai Kun and went to the Ryukyus in 1808. Mission Zhai Kun left Fuzhou early in the intercalary month of May of 1808 and sailed through Wuhumen, Jilongshan, Diayutai, Chiweiyu, Heigouyang, Gumishan and Machishan, and entered
the port of Naha on the evening of the 17th of the leap month of May.....
The boundary of the province of Taiwan is also drawn in the General Map of Taiwan Province in the Book of Taiwan Province. Based on this map, the Boundary Map of Taiwan Province in the government compiled Imperial Collection of Old and New Books(published in 1728), depicted in Photo 3, the map does not depict the Senkaku Islands. What is actually shown is the area up to Jilongshan, which is considered to be the northernmost part of the province of Taiwan. In the Book of Great Qing, published in 1744 (the 9th year of Qianlong) the northernmost boundary of Taiwan is Jilongcheng.
The Map of Taiwan Province in the Book of Great Qing does not show the Senkaku Islands. The same is true of the Marine Country Travel Record(1793). The Senkaku Islands are not part of the province of Taiwan and therefore not Chinese territory.....
Following the Map of the Great Qing, geographical recognition that Jilongshan and Jilong Castle mark the northern
boundary of Taiwan is also consistently maintained in books compiled during the period of the Chinese Republic, such as
in Dynasty Document Review(1912) and Qing History. Even when China became a republic after the Qing Dynasty, the Senkaku Islands never became a part of Taiwan.
