The recent tension and all the disputes about this island
have captured the spotlight of international media. They stem from the 9-18 memorial that represents
the date when Japanese invaded China.
After Japan was defeated in WWII, Japan exited China except
for this small island.
Geographically, the island locates closest to Taiwan, than
to Mainland China, and Japan. Taiwan and
China have never collaborated so closely with each other than before since the
communist party declared the establishment of People’s Republic of China in 1949.
The last time when Communist Party and Kuomin Party
collaborated was when they were fighting together against the invasion of
Japanese into China. After China’s
victory, Communist Party and Kuo Party fought against each other, which ended
of Communist staying in mainland and Kuomin Party relocating to Taiwan. Both parties claimed to have the right to
govern China and made their independent political decision. For example, Mao Zedong of the Communist
Party agreed to the independence of Mongolia, but Chiang Kai-Shek declined to
accept the legality of such decision. It’s
very interesting to see that the map of China in mainland shows only mainland China,
Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan, but the map of China in Taiwan still shows all
the above regions plus Mongolia.
Taking a deeper look into the island - since the end of
WWII, it has been controlled by Japan because Japan saw the conflicts between
mainland and Taiwan, and took possession of the island although it is farthest
from the island in the three entities that claimed to own it. It is only this year when Japan tried to ‘nationalize’
the island by ‘purchasing’ it from a private Japanese ‘owner’ of the island, mainland
China and Taiwan got angered and collaborative again.
The more intriguing cause of the dispute can be the fact
that the natural resource that is covered by the island is worth as much as US $700billion. No oil and gas company dares to explore in
the off-shore area around the island yet because of the political instabilities.
It remains unknown whether the UN would step up and solve
the disputes according to international laws.
It will not be the end of dispute no matter what the UN decides because
none of mainland China, Japan, or Taiwan would agree with the outcome at the same
time.
The dispute over "Diaoyu Island" have been a heated topic for a while. The most interesting point of this blog is that it reviews the fight from the angle of the relations between mainland China and Taiwan, but, I think, another party - the U.S.- is also all necessary to be involved in this topic.
ReplyDeleteThe mutual U.S.-Japan cooperation ever on economy, regional policy and military dates back from the new millennium. Although the States have recently withdrawn the military base from the land of Janpan, Japan is still considered one of the closest allies of the States and the U.S. showed its support as per the "fight for islands" by co-conducting a military drill on island landing with its Japanese allies. At the same time, both Mainland China and Taiwan benefits immensely from its ability to access the American market. Any attempts to alienate the contemporary course will harm their core interests.
Thus, the dynamic relations among the three parties should necessarily be considered when predicting the result of the dispute.
The dispute over "Diaoyu Island" have caused big range of disturbance in China, Taiwan and Japan, and had directly impact on Japanese commercial activity in China. The best way to solve this dispute is through "dialogue". However, I think a third part like UN should intervene and play a neutral role in the discussion. International law and historical facts would be best resource that currently available to deal with the problem.
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