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Orange Wang

Beijing is stepping up its global messaging campaign over East China Sea islets that Tokyo also claims by rolling out a five-part documentary to tell its version of history.
The state broadcaster’s English-language channel, China Global Television Network (CGTN), released the first part of Diaoyu Dao: Small Islands, Big Stakes on Monday to “examine the history, legal debates and contemporary realities” surrounding the group of small, uninhabited islands, which Japan administers as the Senkakus.
Historical texts and maps showed that the islands were first discovered, named and used by China before being ceded to Japan under the 1895 Treaty of Shimonoseki following the first Sino-Japanese war, according to the series.
Beijing maintains that Tokyo was obliged to return the islands under the 1943 Cairo Declaration and the 1945 Potsdam Proclamation, two international documents that laid the foundation of the post-World War II global order.
Tokyo rejects the claim that historical maps have any bearing on the islands’ sovereignty. It asserts that China did not control the islands before 1895 and that the islands were not covered by the Treaty of Shimonoseki. It also cites the 1951 San Francisco Peace Treaty and the 1971 Okinawa Reversion Agreement with the United States to uphold its claim.
“Some scholars argue that key legal questions arising from these agreements remain unresolved,” the preview of the CGTN documentary said.
It added that one of the series’ focuses was to “expose the legal loopholes under US-Japan collusion”.

The programme also accused Tokyo of abandoning an understanding it reached with Beijing to shelve the Diaoyus dispute in the 1970s when the two nations moved towards normalising diplomatic ties, shifting “from partnership to a beggar-thy-neighbour mindset”.
Located in an area believed to hold undersea oil and gas reserves and rich fishing resources, the cluster of islands, reefs and rocks has for decades been a recurring flashpoint between China and Japan.
The new documentary is not Beijing’s first effort to convince the international community that the islands are its territory.
Days after the Japanese government in 2012 bought three of the Diaoyus to prevent then-Tokyo governor Shintaro Ishihara from buying them himself, Beijing issued a white paper titled “Diaoyu Dao, an Inherent Territory of China”.
China viewed Japan’s “nationalisation” of the islands as “a unilateral change to the status quo and a political provocation”, the documentary said. At the time, the purchase sparked grass-roots protests across the Chinese mainland, Taiwan and Hong Kong.
Tokyo said in December it had spotted Chinese vessels sailing near the disputed islands for a record 356 consecutive days.




China and Japan’s already-strained ties began a fresh downward spiral in November when Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi made controversial remarks about a potential Taiwan contingency.
Tensions escalated in May when Japan and the Philippines announced that they would begin formal negotiations on their maritime boundary in the waters east of Taiwan, drawing condemnation from Beijing.
A fisheries resource survey in those waters conducted by China’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs wrapped up on July 23, building on several similar voyages last month.
Global Times, nationalist paper affiliated with People’s Daily, reported that a Japanese coastguard vessel monitored a Chinese research ship during the survey.
Also on July 23, the China Coast Guard said it had conducted a “rights-protection patrol” around the disputed Diaoyus that day, while Japan accused four Chinese armed vessels of entering its “territorial waters” around the islands.
Analysts said Beijing could have seen the Japanese-Philippine maritime boundary as a direct challenge to its position on Taiwan.
The Diaoyus lie to the northeast of Taiwan and are regarded by the governments in both Beijing and Taipei as part of the island’s Yilan county.
Beijing sees Taiwan as part of China to be reunified by force if necessary. Most countries, including Japan and the Philippines, do not recognise Taiwan as an independent state, but Washington is opposed to any attempt to take the self-governed island by force and is committed to supplying it with weapons.
The Chinese foreign ministry said on Monday that top diplomat Wang Yi held no meetings or conversations with the Japanese side during the Asean foreign ministers’ meeting in Manila last week, despite his Japanese counterpart, Toshimitsu Motegi, saying the two had a brief chat.


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China-Japan relations

Beijing fires new salvo at Tokyo with documentary on disputed Diaoyu Islands

The new documentary is not Beijing’s first effort to convince the international community that the Diaoyu Islands are its territory. Photo: CGTN

Tokyo said in December it had spotted Chinese vessels sailing near the disputed Diaoyu Islands for a record 356 consecutive days. Photo: Kyodo

Chinese and Japanese coastguard ships in fresh confrontation near disputed Diaoyu Islands

The uninhabited islands are the scene of regular confrontations. Photo: Kyodo

Will China ramp up military activity near Japan over Takaichi’s comments?

The Diaoyu Islands, known as the Senkakus in Japan, have long been a source of tensions between Tokyo and Beijing. Photo: Kyodo

Beijing has condemned Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s remarks on Taiwan as “dangerous provocation”. Photo: AP

China-Japan dispute flares up after ‘ultranationalists’ fly plane over Diaoyu Islands

The small, uninhabited islands are a major source of friction. Photo: Reuters

Beijing details rare marine survey east of Taiwan after Tokyo-Manila talks

The survey was conducted by the Ministry of Natural Resources’ East China Sea Bureau, which deployed the oceanographic research vessel Xiangyanghong 22. Photo: Handout

The Xiangyanghong 22 is a 3,000-tonne-class research vessel launched in 2018. Photo: Handout

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China

Diplomacy

Series comes as political and maritime tensions have been ramping up between the neighbours for months


Series comes as political and maritime tensions have been ramping up between the neighbours for months.


Beijing fires new salvo at Tokyo with documentary on disputed Diaoyu Islands

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Series comes as political and maritime tensions have been ramping up between the neighbours for months

Series comes as political and maritime tensions have been ramping up between the neighbours for months