Map 6.2: Japan-China Island dispute

Image Source: https://cdn.static-economist.com/sites/default/files/images/print edition/20131130 _ ASM111.png

♤ Ties between Japan and China have been strained by a territorial row over a group of islands, known as the Senkaku islands in Japan and the Diaoyu islands in China.

♤ At the heart of the dispute are eight uninhabited islands and rocks in the East China Sea. They have a total area of about 7 sq km and lie north-east of Taiwan, east of the Chinese mainland and south-west of Japan's southern-most prefecture, Okinawa. The islands are controlled by Japan.

♤ They matter because they are close to important shipping lanes, offer rich fishing grounds and lie near potential oil and gas reserves.

♤ They are also in a strategically significant position, amid rising competition between the US and China for military primacy in the Asia-Pacific region.

♤ In 2013, China declared a formal Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) covering airspace over the islands and overlapping with airspace claimed by Japan. The ADIZ declaration required airlines flying over the waters to first notify China.

♤ The two countries are often at loggerheads with violation of each other’s line and

scrambling of fighter jets