Bill to Rename ‘Tonoshiro’ to ‘Tonoshiro Senkaku’ triggered tensions between Japan and China

A group of Islands without inhabitants located at the South China Sea has been a point of disagreement between Japan and China since 1972. The island is known by the name Senkakus in Japan, while in the People’s Republic of China the Islands are known by the name Diaoyu.

The island group is at present administered by the administrative authority of Ishigaki city of Japan’s Okinawa Prefecture. The islands are located in the southern part of Japan, the entire area under which the Senkaku Islands are located is known by the name Tonoshiro in Japan.

History

• The group of islands was controlled by the Ryukyu Kingdom of China as per records available. 
• But during the First Sino-Japanese War the Islands were annexed by the Japanese Central Government.
• As Japan surrender at the end of 2^nd World War, the islands came under the power of the United States Government. 26 years later in 1971, the United States Senate passed the Okinawa Reversion Treaty to return the group of islands back to Japan. 
• Japan took over the control of the islands from 1972. Since then China began to declare its ownership over the islands based on the fact that the islands were discovered during the 14^th century by the Chinese Ryukyu Kingdom.

Present Day

• On 22^nd June 2020, the assembly of Ishigaki city passed the bill under which from 1^st October 2020- the Tonoshiro area will be renamed as Tonoshiro Senkaku.