New Jab in Island Dispute

Japanese government presented new evidence for ownership of disputed islands in East China Sea. Ministry of Foreign Affairs uploaded on its homepage an old map made by Chinese government, in which Senkaku Islands were described in Japanese name. While Japanese government raised its voice for justifying its administration, Chinese government showed ignoring the undeniable fact. The new action of Japan resulted in a simple continuation of a blaming game with China.

The map Japanese government found was made by General Bureau for Mapping of Chinese government in 1969. On the map, there was Japanese name of Senkaku Islands with Japanese letters, including islands of Uotsuri and Kitakojima. It indicated that Chinese government had officially been recognizing those islands as affiliated to Japan before it started its assertion of sovereignty on them in 1970s.

It was obvious that the government tried to present negative evidence against dispute by China. “We uploaded the map to make it clear that the China’s unique assertion had no basis,” told Minister of Foreign Affairs, Fumio Kishida. “It indicated that they made it on the recognition of Senkakus as within the territory of Japan,” added Kishida, “ and the fact that China used the names they had not used proved the contradiction of China’s appeal.”

To the new jab from Tokyo government, Chinese government showed no uneasiness. “Historical facts cannot be overturned by a couple of maps someone discovered with the efforts in vain,” said a spokesman of Chinese government, Hong Lei. “If it is necessary, we can submit a hundred or a thousand of maps that apparently show affiliation of Diaoyu Islands to China,” rebutted Lei.

It was nineteen century when Japan annexed Senkaku Islands. After 1970s when petroleum reserve was found in the area, China started its dispute on the ownership of them. China’s purpose was obviously to get the rich energy resource there. Before the discovery, those islands had no interest or Chinese government. This attitude has been causing severe criticisms of Japanese right wing activists against China.

There is no persuasive evidence that China had been maintained its sovereignty from the time of Ming, between the centuries of fourteenth and seventeenth. The Chinese are better at fabricating of history than the Japanese does. They would create old maps of Diaoyu Islands made in millions of years ago, if necessary. It is said that gambling of china is not about analyzing about what result is coming, like the Japanese do, but about bribing the dealer. Blaming game may turn out to be a mater of deception.