Japan cannot deny facts

In its bid to seize the Diaoyu Islands, Japan is trying hard to deny the historical facts that are to its disadvantage. Even its "power of administration" over the islands is a denial of the historical truth that the islands belong to China.

The islands and islets were Chinese territory until Japan forcibly seized them in 1895. The 1943 Cairo Declaration and the 1945 Potsdam Proclamation, which laid out the terms for the Japanese surrender at the end of World War II, obliged the country to return all the Chinese territories it had forcibly occupied.

However, the US administered the Diaoyu Islands after the war ended until June 17, 1971, when the US inked the Okinawa Reversion Treaty with Japan, which illegally handed the power of administration over the islands to Japan.

According to international law, treaties are binding only to the signatories. The San Francisco Peace Treaty of 1951 and the US-Japan Okinawa Reversion Treaty are powerless to command care of China's territory as China was not a signatory to either treaty. And the Civil Administration Ordinance No 68 issued by the US Civil Administration of the Ryukyu Islands on Feb 29, 1952 and the Civil Administration Proclamation No 27 issued on Dec 25, 1953, which arbitrarily expanded its jurisdiction to include China's Diaoyu Islands, were not only unilateral, they were also illegitimate.

Before signing the reversion treaty, the US State Department issued a statement of "non-interference", which made clear that although the US was handing the administration of the islands to Japan, it would be up to Japan and China to settle questions of sovereignty.

The US to this day maintains this is its general position on the issue, despite Japanese efforts to get US involved on its side.

In fact, the US knows full well that it had no right to give the islands to Japan. The US government issued a declaration in October 1971, which noted that the reversion treaty did not constitute US recognition of Japanese sovereignty over the Diaoyu Islands.

We hope that the US will keep its word and not take sides in the dispute, which was of its making.

Japan has repeatedly tried to deny that there is a dispute about the islands. However, the historical facts show otherwise.

It's time for Japan to stop its denial of the dispute and negotiate a peaceful solution.

(China Daily 09/26/2012 page8)