Troubled Seas: Japan’s Pacific and East China Sea Domains (and
Claims) In the two years since 2010, the Asia-Pacific region has
been roiled by rival territorial claims and counterclaims to
islands, islets, and rocks scattered across the East China Sea,
Yellow Sea, the Japan Sea and the South China Sea. In 2012
alone, strong claims and counter-claims to insular territories
have been made by Japan, China, and Taiwan (Senkakus/Diaoyu),
Japan and South Korea (Dokdo/Takeshima), and China, the
Philippines and Vietnam among others (South China Sea islets).
These official claims, moreover, in many cases have been
reinforced by nationalist statements and actions by citizens and
groups, and by clashes on the high seas contesting territorial
claims. In evoking military alliances, Japan has brought the US
into the picture in relation to its claims to the Senkakus,
while the US has positioned itself to intervene in the South
China Seas clashes, setting up intensified US-China conflict. In
a major examination of the Senkak