China-Japan Conflict over the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands

<p>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.</p><p></p> <p></p><p><strong>CONTENTS</strong> </p><p>Acknowledgements <b></b></p><p>Abbreviations </p><p></p><p>CHAPTER ONE: Contested Territory </p><p>The dispute: what it is and why it matters </p><p></p><p>An expression of competitive politics in East Asia </p><p></p><p>Mining data on the dispute </p><p></p><p>Legal, historical and geographical evidence brought to sovereignty claim </p><p></p><p>Japan’s official position </p><p></p><p>The PRC’s official position </p><p></p><p>The US official position </p><p></p><p>CHAPTER TWO: Neo-Classical Realism and Managed Strategic Confrontation </p><p>Theorizing foreign policy</p><p></p><p>Neoclassical realism </p><p></p><p>China and Japan as ‘useful rivals’: managed strategic confrontation </p><p>A focus on nationalism </p><p></p><p>Foreign and Security Policy Actors </p><p></p><p>CHAPTER THREE: The Islands’ Economic and Strategic Value </p><p>Economic value of the islands: EEZ and resource exploitation</p><p></p><p>Strategic value of the islands </p><p></p><p>The islands and China’s growing maritime power </p><p></p><p>The islands and Japan’s shift towards greater activism </p><p></p><p>CHAPTER FOUR: The Cold War Phase of the Dispute </p><p></p><p><b>1970s—Scrambling for oil or global recognition? </b></p><p></p><p>The islands and the reversion of Okinawa (1971) </p><p></p><p>The islands, diplomatic normalisation (1972) and the Treaty of Peace and Friendship (1978) </p><p></p><p>Analysis: the islands are neither a priority, nor are they in reach </p><p></p><p>The islands, US ambivalence and the Taiwan issue </p><p></p><p>The islands and peripheral Chinese nationalism </p><p>1980s: Bilateral tensions and quiet around the islands </p><p></p><p>CHAPTER FIVE: The Post-Cold War Phase of the Dispute </p><p>1990 and 1996 cycles of the islands crisis: bilateral restraint </p><p></p><p>2004-2005 cycle of the islands crisis: Beijing sanctions limited domestic activism </p><p></p><p>2010 cycle: the issue becomes highly politicized </p><p></p><p>2012 cycle: Japan’s transfer of ownership </p><p></p><p>Crisis</p>