Beijing fires new salvo at Tokyo with documentary on disputed Diaoyu Islands
Series comes as political and maritime tensions have been ramping up between the neighbours for months
The state broadcaster’s English-language channel, China Global Television Network (CGTN), released the first part of Diaoyu Dao: Small Islands, Big Stakes on Monday to “examine the history, legal debates and contemporary realities” surrounding the group of small, uninhabited islands, which Japan administers as the Senkakus.
Historical texts and maps showed that the islands were first discovered, named and used by China before being ceded to Japan under the 1895 Treaty of Shimonoseki following the first Sino-Japanese war, according to the series.
Beijing maintains that Tokyo was obliged to return the islands under the 1943 Cairo Declaration and the 1945 Potsdam Proclamation, two international documents that laid the foundation of the post-World War II global order.
Tokyo rejects the claim that historical maps have any bearing on the islands’ sovereignty. It asserts that China did not control the islands before 1895 and that the islands were not covered by the Treaty of Shimonoseki. It also cites the 1951 San Francisco Peace Treaty and the 1971 Okinawa Reversion Agreement with the United States to uphold its claim.
“Some scholars argue that key legal questions arising from these agreements remain unresolved,” the preview of the CGTN documentary said.