Japan defends the decision, saying it was to prevent Kurihara from developing the islands, but the purchase provokes an angry response from China just a month before its November leadership transition. The move comes after Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara announces in April his intention to purchase the islands to protect their sovereignty. The government of Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda signs a contract, worth $26 million, to purchase three of the five disputed Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands from private landowner Kunioki Kurihara. Its military strategy continues to shift from land-based power to a maritime one, which its new leaders reinforce through an expansion and consolidation of marine agencies as well as rhetoric that refers to maritime rights as part of the country’s “core interests.” South Korea elects Park Geun-hye as its first female president in February 2013 amid heightened tensions over nuclear tests by the North. Shortly thereafter he publishes an op-ed in which he warns of the South China Sea transforming into “Lake Beijing,” and proposes a “democratic security diamond” comprising Japan, the United States, India, and Australia that would “safeguard the maritime commons stretching from the Indian Ocean region to the Western Pacific.” China also undergoes its high-profile, once-a-decade leadership transition in November, electing Xi Jinping and Li Keqiang as president and premier, respectively. Following a hearty election win, Shinzo Abe takes office as Japan’s prime minister for the second time on December 26. Meanwhile, Japan views the reversion agreement with the United States as further validation of its sovereignty over the disputed islands.Ģ012 heralds a landmark year for leadership transition in Northeast Asia, raising questions about how territorial disputes will factor into each administration’s agenda. In response to the reversion treaty, the ROC and PRC begin issuing claims to the islands, saying they have belonged to the Chinese since ancient times and have been administered by the province of Taiwan. But the Nixon administration takes a neutral stance on their sovereignty its priorities are retaining bases in Okinawa and normalizing relations with the PRC, which it hopes will help end the Vietnam War. government that the territories were administered as parts of Okinawa. The boundaries set by the agreement appear to include the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands since there was an understanding within the U.S. President Richard Nixon considered to be the “linchpin” for peace in the Pacific. The move is seen as reinforcing the U.S.-Japan security alliance, which U.S.
BURNING SEA NAVAL ACTION MAP FULL
The United States and Japan sign the Okinawa Reversion Treaty, in which Washington effectively returns full control of the Ryukyu Islands to Japan.