Publication

This note provides brief background information about the territorial dispute between Japan, China and Taiwan over the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands in the East China Sea. The conflict has deepened since September 2012, with nationalist sentiment increasingly stirred up in China and Japan, and Taiwan also starting to claim the islands. The islands are strategically important in terms of maritime navigation and shipping, natural resources, including fisheries and hydrocarbons, and for defense purposes, the author notes.