How Does Japan Perceives China as an Adversary?

A China-Japan grim relationship has been marked by conflicts, and other political security tensions for a long time. One of which is the Diaoyu/Senkaku islands dispute occurring since 2012, it will become an issue for both countries that is difficult to be ironed out. The dispute has occurred since the Japanese government nationalized the islets, which China also claimed. It led to both countries' expansion of military power and a clash in East Asia. This essay aims to analyze how Japan perceives China by focusing on the Diaoyu/Senkaku islands dispute. This article argues Japan perceives China as a threat due to China’s military penetration over Diaoyu/Senkaku islands leading to a strategic distrust of Japan and its uncertain behavior as an international relations actor led to a moral distrust of Japan. This phenomenon will likely raise the tension in the region and enhance the escalation possibility due to the security dilemma effect.

Introduction

Near the Senkaku Islands, Chinese and Japanese vessels regularly engage in tense encounters about who has rights to control the nearby waters. Their standoffs represent just one of several points of friction that center on who controls the world’s oceans and what the rules are for their use. The oceans are often described as lawless or anarchic, but that characterization obscures as much as it explains. For centuries, there has been a rudimentary legal framework for the oceans: “freedom of the seas.” Yet freedom of the seas has come under strain in recent decades as governments have won more control of ocean space and as international regulation of the oceans has intensified. Constructing a stable basis for future ocean governance remains a significant international challenge.

Problems of the Historical Past in Japanese-Taiwanese Relations during the Chen Shui-bian Administration (2000–2008)

Taiwan, which was ruled by the Japanese Empire from 1895 to 1945, still remains one of the few regions whose inhabitants do not emphasize the negative aspects of the colonial period. Discussions in Taiwanese society about the problems of the historical past traditionally are represented by two issues: the question of sovereignty over the Diaoyudao/Senkaku islands and the demand from Tokyo of an apology and compensation for Taiwanese “comfort women”. Moreover, both of these problems, even if they appeared on the domestic political agenda, were never acute and did not have a significant impact on the development of traditionally close Japanese-Taiwanese relations. Questions of the historical past, as a rule, represented only one part of the larger discussions regarding the national identity of the islanders and the search for models of further development of Taiwan. All these aspects of the “Taiwanese approach” to issues related to the problematic past came into full play during the presidency of Chen Shui-bian (2000–2008). During this time, Tokyo and Taipei maintained a rather high level of political contacts and encouraged cooperation between Japan and Taiwan despite the actualization of the “comfort women” issue, which became the baseline for new discussions about the colonial past and the role of Japan in developing modern Taiwan. The article discusses the approaches of Taiwanese authorities in 2000–2008 to the interpretation of Japan’s war-time past and colonial period of Taiwan history in the context of development of relations between Tokyo and Taipei.

Analysis on the Definition of Japanese Territory After World War II in Terms of International Law: the Southern Kurils, the Diaoyu Islands and Tok Islet

Geopolitical tensions have periodically risen in the Asia-Pacific region due to territorial disputes between Japan and its neighbours over the Southern Kurils (the Northern Territories), the Diaoyu Islands (the Senkaku islands) and Tok Islet (Tok Islet (Dokdo)/ Takeshima). There is, of course, great discrepancy between the disputes over the Southern Kurils, the Diaoyu Islands and Tok Islet (Dokdo) in terms of their respective origin and legal nature, and effective control over them, and the historical and legal grounds on which the disputing states rely in their claims over the disputed territories vary widely. But what is consensual and definite is the fact that the islands in dispute were already excluded from the Japanese territory under the international legal acts deciding Japanese territory after World War II. The paper examines and analyzes Japanese reasoning behind its claim over the disputed territories in terms of relevant international legal acts relating to the delimitation of Japanese territory after World War II.

Cryptic species in a Vulnerable seabird: shorttailed albatross consists of two species

The occurrence of cryptic species within a threatened taxon is rare, but where they do occur, understanding species boundaries is essential for planning an effective conservation strategy. The short-tailed albatross Phoebastria albatrus is a Vulnerable seabird that mainly breeds on Torishima and the Senkaku Islands in the western North Pacific. Although it has been tacitly regarded as a single management unit with 2 breeding sites, the species is known to comprise 2 genetically separated populations (Senkaku-type and Torishima-type). However, morphological examination of birds from both populations has not been conducted owing to the difficulty in accessing the Senkaku Islands. In this study, we examined the morphological differences between immigrants from the Senkaku Islands to Torishima (Senkaku-type) and native birds on Torishima (Torishima-type) and found significant differences in morphological characteristics between the 2 bird types. In general, Torishima-type birds were larger than Senkaku-type birds, whereas Senkaku-type birds had relatively longer beaks. Based on the morphological differences found in this study as well as genetic and ecological differences revealed in previous studies, we believe that Senkaku- and Torishima-type birds should be classified as different cryptic species. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first case of cryptic species being identified in a threatened avian species.