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6 E. Asia L. Rev. 163 (2011)
The Unhelpfulness of Treaty in Solving the Sino-Japan Sovereign Dispute over the Diaoyu Islands

handle is hein.journals/etalr6 and id is 173 raw text is: The Unhelpfulness of Treaty Law in Solving the Sino-Japan Sovereign Dispute over the Diaoyu Islands Chi Manjiao The sovereignty dispute over the Diaoyu Islands between China and Japan is a sensitive issue touching upon various aspects of international law. One of the major claims of both countries is whether the Islands have been ceded to Japan, and if so, have they been reverted to China. Since cession and reversion were completed through a series of treaties, this paper explores the dispute by evaluating treaty law. The paper first outlines three sovereignty claims over the Islands and then provides a chronological review of the pertinent treaties. It then discusses the non- applicability contention and the treaty interpretation contention, two interpretations popular among mainland Chinese scholars. The article concludes that treaty law cannot provide a satisfactory solution to the dispute and suggests that both countries should resort to other international laws of territorial acquisition and strive for more innovative political solutions. I. INTRODUCTION ................................ .......164 II. A BRIEF REVIEW OF THE THREE MAJOR LEGAL CLAIMS........167 III. A REVIEW OF TREATIES PERTAINING TO THE DIAOYU ISLANDS 169 A. The Treaty of Shimonoseki (1895) .................169 B. The Wartime Declarations (the 1940s)..................169 C. The San Francisco Treaty (1951) ........... ...... 170 D. The Sino-Japanese Peace Treaty (1952) .................. 171 B.A., LL.M., PhD in Law. Associate Professor of International Law, Law School, Xiamen University. PRC. This article is based on a paper presented at the International Symposium on Dokdo Islands: Sovereignty Dispute in East Asia held in Washington D.C. on May 20, 2010. The author is greatly indebted to Prof. Pilkyu Kim at the University of Maryland and other panelists for their insightful comments on an earlier draft of this article. The ideas and mistakes contained in this article are the author's sole responsibility. The author can be contacted at chimanjiao a xmu.edu.cn.

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