Senkaku Islands | 18 Nov 2025

Source: TH 

China Coast Guard ships conducted a “rights enforcement patrol” near the Japan-administered Senkaku Islands. The move comes after the Japanese Prime Minister stated that any Chinese attack on Taiwan could prompt a military response from Tokyo. 

• The Senkaku Islands remain a long-running territorial dispute between China and Japan. 
• Senkaku Islands:  The islands are referred to as the “Senkaku”, the “Diaoyu”, and the “Diaoyutai” by Japan, China and Taiwan, respectively, with Japan administering them.  
  • They lie in the East China Sea, close to all three countries, and consist of five small uninhabited islands and a few rocks, with the largest, Uotsuri, measuring only 1.4 square miles. 
• Strategic Importance: A 1969 UN report indicating possible hydrocarbon reserves under the Senkaku Islands boosted their strategic value and intensified sovereignty disputes. 
• Historical Background of the Dispute: Japan assumed control of Taiwan and the Senkaku Islands in 1895, after winning the first Sino-Japanese War.  China argues Japan illegally seized the islands after the war. 
  • After Japan's loss in the Second World War in 1945, the US took administrative control of Islands under the 1951 Treaty of Peace. 
  • In 1971, the US and Japan signed the Okinawa Reversion Agreement, and returned Okinawa and the Senkaku Islands to Japan. 
  • China and Taiwan immediately protested the handover, but Japan insists their claims emerged only after the discovery of potential hydrocarbons.