East China Sea: Senkaku/Diaoyudao Islands Dis...

East China Sea: Senkaku/Diaoyudao Islands Dispute (Japan and China)

Author Name : Devapriya Bhattacharya

ABSTRACT A set of uninhabited islands Senkaku/Diaoyudao within the East China Sea constitutes one of the major conflict areas of the world. The resource rich islands have been responsible for conflict between two major countries Japan and China. While the dispute ranges on the issues of sovereignty and Special Economic Zone (SEZ), there are other factors like history, strategy, domestic and international politics along with the presence of third parties like Taiwan, USA and South Korea have further complicated the problem. Over the years there had been no direct confrontation between Japan and China over the region, but a constant animosity had been kept alive. Japan had morphed her posture from passive to an aggressive one, clear with the deployment of security in the region; China had maintained a constant vigilant stance, involving deployment of military, vessels in the region leading to a number of skirmishes along the border areas. With a major country USA considering China as their natural competitor and perpetual aggressor within the Asia Pacific region, clubbed with Japan’s connections with USA, The situation remains more explosive than ever. This paper would look into this conflict embedded from the perspective of dispute between Japan and China and would follow the timeline after 2012 in order to get an in-depth analysis about the exact nature and implications of the Senkaku/ Diaoyudao conflict.