Taiwanese council wades into territorial row with Japan over island chain
- Yilan council votes to pre-empt Japan’s Ishigaki city by renaming chain the Touchen Diaoyutai islands
- Japan, which calls them the Senkakus, and mainland China, which calls them the Diaoyu Islands, also claim uninhabited archipelago
A Taiwanese council has waded into the long-running dispute about a chain of islands by voting to rename them.
Japan, Taiwan and mainland China all claim the uninhabited archipelago, known respectively as the Senkakus, Diaoyutais and the Diaoyus.
The council in the northeastern Taiwanese county of Yilan unanimously approved a symbolic decision to change their designation from the Diaoyu Islands to the Toucheng Diaoyutai Islands ahead of a similar vote by Japan’s Ishigaki city.
“All 34 councillors of different political parties approved the new designation proposal. The county government is obliged to study how to do this in line with relevant regulations,” said Lin Mao-sheng, secretary general of the Yilan government.
According to Lin, the chain – made up of five islets and three barren rocks covering an area of some seven square kilometres – are listed as an administrative district of Toucheng, an ancient township in Yilan.
