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Updated Friday, February 5, 2010 9:28 am TWN, The China Post news staff

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Japan should be a bit more considerate on territories

The sovereignty dispute over the eight islets isn't as complicated as that over Japan's Northern Territories. A treaty was signed to divide the kingdom of the Ryukyu into two halves, the northern half belonging to Japan and the southern half, including the island of Okinawa and the Tiaoyutais, to the Great Qing Empire. Incidentally, the Ryukyus were renamed the Okinawa Islands after the Japanese annexation in 1872. But the treaty was not ratified when the Sino-Japanese War broke out in the summer of 1894. Taiwan was ceded to Japan in 1895 under the Peace Treaty of Simonoseki, enabling Japan to keep the whole of the kingdom which used to be a vassal state of China as its prefecture of Okinawa. The United States (U.S.) invaded Okinawa towards the end of World War II, and occupied it until 1969. When Uncle Sam returned Okinawa to Japan, no mention was specifically made about whether the Tiaoyutais were part of the Okinawa chain, while the Republic of China (R.O.C) to which Taiwan was restored in 1945, considers them to belong to its newly recovered province, one main reason being a Tokyo high court decision to award fishing rights to the prefecture of Taihoku (Taipei) rather than Okinawa whilst Taiwan was under Japanese colonial rule. Interestingly, Japan did not dispute Taiwan's sovereignty over the Tiaoyutais before the confirmation of their vast undersea oil reserves.

On the other hand, Taipei seems to have tacitly given up sovereignty. Fishermen are told not to go near the Tiaoyutai archipelago, while Beijing and Tokyo have agreed a no-fishing zone around it. Tokyo has refused to negotiate seriously with Taipei to solve the dispute over the fishing rights. Frictions have developed, with the latest incident involving the boarding of a Taiwanese fishing boat by Japanese maritime safety officers who overpowered our coastguardsmen, and towed the vessel to Ishigaki-jima for detention on charges of intrusion.

The Russian attack on the Japanese fishing boats should have taught Tokyo to be more considerate towards Taiwanese fishermen, who call the Tiaoyutais“No Man's Islands” and consider the waters off them to be their traditional fishing grounds. Tokyo warns Japanese nationals against entering the Northern Territories even though they may hold visas issued by the Russian authorities. There is no reason why Japanese sea patrols should refrain from forbidding Taiwan fishermen to catch fish off the eight isles where no man lives. Moreover, Tokyo should resume dialogue with Taipei to reach a compromise on the fishing rights dispute as soon as possible if it is to avoid any more unwelcome incidents.

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