China’s Okinawa Policy Attracts Attention – The Diplomat

Flashpoints

A probably extra aggressive coverage in the direction of Okinawa by China has been attracting consideration in East Asia not too long ago. The notion stems from an categorical reference made by Chinese language President Xi Jinping to Japan’s southernmost islands, often known as the Ryukyu, in early June throughout a go to to the China Nationwide Archives of Publications and Tradition (CNAPC) and the Chinese language Academy of Historical past, a repository of Chinese language classical books. It’s uncommon for a Chinese language president to make such a reference, giving rise to hypothesis that an underlying motive could also be at play: a go to to China earlier this month by Denny Tamaki, Governor of Okinawa Prefecture as a part of a delegation from Japan.

Xi Jinping’s remark was made throughout his tour of the CNAPC, when he stopped in entrance of an exhibit and listened to the curator’s rationalization. It even warranted a point out within the Folks’s Every day. The remark got here in response to the curator’s rationalization in regards to the “Information of the Imperial Title-conferring Envoys to Ryukyu” of the Ming Dynasty. This ebook describes the envoys dispatched by the Ming Dynasty to Ryukyu to convey Ryukyu’s place as a tributary state of Ming. The work is broadly identified in China as it’s believed to be the oldest file displaying that the Senkaku Islands (identified in China because the Diaoyu Islands) are Chinese language territory. (In Japan, the passage in query isn’t thought-about to represent proof of this). When the curator talked about the passage regarding [Chinese sovereignty and] the Senkaku Islands, Xi Jinping remarked: “Once I was working in Fuzhou, I knew that Fuzhou had a Ryukyu Museum and a Ryukyu tomb, and that Fuzhou had a deep relationship with Ryukyu, and that the thirty-six clans of Fujian went over to the Ryukyu Islands and settled there.” The Ryukyu Museum accommodated the envoys who got here to China from Ryukyu to pay tribute to the Ming dynasty, and the Ryukyu tomb is the resting place of the Ryukyu individuals who died in Fuzhou. The thirty-six clans of Fujian, additionally known as the thirty-six clans of Kume, got here to Ryukyu and oversaw its dedication to pay tribute to the Ming Dynasty.

Xi’s remark might have been sparked by reminiscences of the greater than fifteen years he spent working in Fujian province. Nonetheless, Xi instantly went on to emphasise the “want to gather and type classical books and woodblock-printed books to make sure the legacy and continued growth of Chinese language civilization.” This gave rise to widespread hypothesis, because it could possibly be interpreted to imply that the connection with Okinawa is a part of Chinese language civilization. Xi Jinping’s comment was welcomed by Okinawa Prefecture Governor Denny Tamaki, who recommended Xi for his understanding of Okinawa.

The Folks’s Republic of China acknowledges that Okinawa is Japanese territory. This place can also be supported by the truth that Okinawa Prefecture is included throughout the jurisdiction of the Fukuoka Consulate normal of the Folks’s Republic of China. Certainly, it’s the Republic of China authorities in Taiwan that would appear to not acknowledge the truth that Okinawa Prefecture is Japanese territory. Nonetheless, questions over the standing of Okinawa have arisen steadily. Within the 2010s, for example, the Folks’s Every day printed an article by a “scholar” who raised questions on whether or not Okinawa belonged to China. China’s official stance isn’t that areas which as soon as paid tribute to China are Chinese language territory. It does, nonetheless, categorical doubt about Okinawa’s standing as a part of Japan.

Arguments put ahead by “students” in media shops such because the Folks’s Every day are one factor. Feedback by Xi Jinping’s carry a special weight totally. Xi’s newest comment will gasoline extra controversy over the “Ryukyu” subject in China, and if it turns into one thing just like the Senkaku Islands subject, it would current a brand new problem for Japan-China relations. Then again, surveys such because the Perspective Survey of Okinawa Prefectural Residents Towards China carried out by Okinawa Prefecture within the 2010s present that the residents of Okinawa Prefecture have an especially unfavorable perspective towards China. Whereas curiosity in Okinawa could also be growing in China, it’s unclear whether or not curiosity in China will equally improve in Okinawa.

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KAWASHIMA Shin is a professor on the College of Tokyo.