The Senkaku Shoto/Diaoyu Islands and Okinotorishima disputes: Ideational and material influences

The Senkaku Shoto/Diaoyu Islands dispute in the East China Sea and the Okinotorishima dispute in the western Pacific are currently among the most prominent maritime disagreements between Japan and China. Both disputes are influenced by neorealist strategic and material interests in relation to sea lines of communication, the demarcation of maritime territory, exclusive economic zones (EEZs), and continental shelf claims. Despite material similarities, it is the issue of the rightful ownership of the historically sensitive Senkaku Shoto/Diaoyu Islands that has seriously strained bilateral relations. The way that the disagreements manifest themselves arguably reflects the central role that such liberal and constructivist themes as emotion, identity, nationalism, and domestic politics play in the dispute. The Senkaku Shoto/Diaoyu Islands dispute in particular is one where domestic politics and ideational influences play a disproportionately strong role in escalating tensions and complicating attempts at resolution. This article aims to examine the shared and contrasting ideational and material aspects of these two disputes, and to show how these interests shape Japan’s and China’s respective approaches in both cases. It thus sheds some light on when and why Sino-Japanese ideational and material interests intersect and how they affect bilateral relations.