Description
This book examines the foreign and security policies adopted by China and Japan since the 1970s in their competition over the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands in the East China Sea. It charts the development of a dispute that has become a potential flashpoint for conflict between the two countries. The book explains that while increasing nationalism in both China and Japan helps to fuel and sustain the dispute, a key factor is that the leaderships in both countries find competition over the islands to be a convenient vehicle supporting their wider approach to foreign and security policy, which is becoming increasingly assertive and potentially belligerent.
Table of Contents
CONTENTS
Acknowledgements
Abbreviations
CHAPTER ONE: Contested Territory
The dispute: what it is and why it matters
An expression of competitive politics in East Asia
Mining data on the dispute
Legal, historical and geographical evidence brought to sovereignty claim
Japan’s official position
The PRC’s official position
The US official position
CHAPTER TWO: Neo-Classical Realism and Managed Strategic Confrontation
Theorizing foreign policy
Neoclassical realism
China and Japan as ‘useful rivals’: managed strategic confrontation
A focus on nationalism
Foreign and Security Policy Actors
CHAPTER THREE: The Islands’ Economic and Strategic Value
Economic value of the islands: EEZ and resource exploitation
Strategic value of the islands
The islands and China’s growing maritime power
The islands and Japan’s shift towards greater activism
CHAPTER FOUR: The Cold War Phase of the Dispute
1970s—Scrambling for oil or global recognition?
The islands and the reversion of Okinawa (1971)
The islands, diplomatic normalisation (1972) and the Treaty of Peace and Friendship (1978)
Analysis: the islands are neither a priority, nor are they in reach
The islands, US ambivalence and the Taiwan issue
The islands and peripheral Chinese nationalism
1980s: Bilateral tensions and quiet around the islands
CHAPTER FIVE: The Post-Cold War Phase of the Dispute
1990 and 1996 cycles of the islands crisis: bilateral restraint
2004-2005 cycle of the islands crisis: Beijing sanctions limited domestic activism
2010 cycle: the issue becomes highly politicized
2012 cycle: Japan’s transfer of ownership
Crisis-management mechanisms, the 4-Point Agreement (2014) and the resumption of high-level communication
CHAPTER SIX: Symbolic Value of the Islands
An endless sporting event: the islands and national identity
‘It’s PR [Public Relations]’: the islands and diplomacy 191
CHAPTER SEVEN: Conclusion
Bibliography
