Dispute over the sovereignty of Diaoyu Islands (Senkaku Islands) implicates peace in East Asia. These islands were under Chinese control for five hundred years in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, and were used as sailing coordinates for imperial Chinese missions to the ancient Ryūkyū Kingdom and as part of national defense. Under the control of the Qing Dynasty, the Diaoyu Islands were affiliated with Taiwan. In 1894, the Qing was defeated by Japanese in the Sino-Japanese War and was forced to secede Taiwan and its surrounding islands to Japan in 1985. After World War II, the Diaoyu islands were under the United States¡¦ occupation. In 1972, the United States reverted administrative control over these islands to Japan. The Diaoyu Islands have so far been separated from the Chinese rule for over a century. Due to the intervention of the United States, the Diaoyu Islands were not returned to China or Taiwan after the defeat of Japan in 1945. In the 21st Century, as the resources on earth are gradually depleted, the sovereignty of the Diaoyu Islands has become a ferocious competition among China, Japan, and Taiwan due to its rich ocean resources. At present, the islands are under de facto control by Japan; resolution of the problem has troubled Taiwan, China, and Japan. On September 7, 2010, ¡§Minjin Fishing Boat No. 5179¡¨ collided with Japanese Coast Guard patrol boats. This thesis uses this incident as a case to study the Sino-Japanese conflict on the Diaoyu Islands.

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MARTINA SUMICHRASTOVA 10.5.18 The Fading Face of the Chinese Dragon? The Dispute Over the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands ABSTRACT Keywords: the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands, China vs Japan, The face of nation, two level game theory, Chinese Dream The emergence of the global-economic crisis of 2008 helped the People's Republic of China to acquire the status of the world's second-largest economy. Not only did it open the doors for more significant opportunities for China in the sphere of commerce, but it allowed the People's Republic of China to be seen differently in the matters of military, diplomacy as well as on their level of domestic politics. This thesis aims to provide an insight into a smouldering territorial dispute over the Senkaku/ Diaoyu Islands concerning the deeply enrooted concept of the face. The concept of the face is essential mainly for Confucian societies as well as the East- Asian societies. However, slipping of the Chinese Dream, the People's Republic of China seems to be challenged in socio-political terms. Is the face of Chinese Dragon fading away? As it is well known, both sides involved in the conflict, China, and Japan have had a turbulent history of disputes and quarrels. What makes the Chinese Officials to get involved in the territorial dispute, to strengthen the face of Chinese Dragon? The...

This thesis examines the deep bilateral tensions surrounding the East China Sea (ECS) disagreements between Japan and the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in the period from August 19th 2003 to June 18th 2008 from an actor-centred constructivist liberal viewpoint. The East China Sea disputes could be described as a conflicting difference of opinion over a) the demarcation of maritime territory and Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ) in which potentially significant energy deposits exist and b) the ownership of the strategically important and historically sensitive Pinnacle (Senkaku/Diaoyu) Islands. This research addresses the question of why, given the fact that China and Japan have a strong interest in co-operation and stable relations with each other, small incidents in the ECS blow up into larger problems, cause approaches to the East China Sea to wax and wane, and move the relationship in a direction that goes against preferred national objectives? In attempting to unravel this puzzle, this work argues that domestic politics and popular negative sentiment have been the major issues that have greatly amplified and politicised the ECS problems and have significantly affected positive progress in negotiations aimed at managing and stabilising these disputes. By examining these, the thesis addresses the question of why China and Japan have been so constrained in their attempts to find a workable bilateral agreement over disputed energy resources and demarcation in the East China Sea. It also indirectly deals with the question of why the conflicting legal complexities surrounding these disagreements contributed to both states so fervently maintaining and defending their claims.