only postponed the day of reckoning between Japan and the PRC over the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands, and between both governments and their constituents. If the Chinese believed that the Japanese were as prepared as they were to shelve the territorial question indefinitely in favor of starting joint development of oil on the continental shelf, then the subsequent position of the Japanese foreign ministry on the need to hold talks on the delimitation of a boundary on the continental shelf before proceeding with each country’s own development on its own side of the boundary must have seemed very disappointing. 60 It was indeed the sovereignty impasse that caused the collapse of a series of intermittent and ultimately inconclusive talks held by both sides between 1978 and 1982 over sea-bed exploration for oil in the vicinity of the islands.
As an affront to the Chinese and to demonstrate Japanese sovereignty over the Senkaku, members of the right-wing Japanese nationalist political organization, the Seirankai, including the prominent writer Shintaro Ishihara, promptly erected a simple lighthouse on Uotsuri, the largest of the disputed isles, within days of the Nakasone speech. The first beacon was nothing more than a simple electric lightbulb hanging from an iron pipe. 61 Subsequently, it seems, the Seirankai had planned to erect a second one, and enlisted the help and financial contribution of a second, bigger and wealthier right-wing Japanese nationalist organization, the Nihon Seinensha, or Japanese Youth Federation. However, although their application to the Ministry of Transport ministry to have their proposed lighthouse registered in the navigational chart was approved, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs apparently did not want to create another international incident and vetoed the proposal, and the lighthouse was not authorized for construction. The Seinensha nonetheless went ahead with its construction apparently without government opposition. While the crisis was taking place in April, chief cabinet secretary Shintaro Abe suggested that the Japanese government construct a heliport and a refuge port for fishermen facing typhoons. 62 However, no immediate action was taken because prime minister Fukuda refused to act on the suggestion. Interestingly enough, the Japanese government then proceeded to build a small helicopter pad on the main island of Uotsuri in August 1979, and in the aftermath of the Tiananmen crisis in China, when no one was paying attention, it officially endorsed the beacon erected originally by the Seirankai by including it in the official Japanese navigational charts published in September 1989. 63 Storm clouds were once again gathering over the Senkakus, after a dozen years of relative calm.
The third incident: of torches and lighthouses (1990)
The 1990 incident over the Senkakus was largely a row between the Japanese right-wing Seinensha group and Taiwanese fishermen’s associations, which turned out to be quite a formidable pressure group, ultimately involving the Japanese and Taiwanese governments. The fall of 1990 witnessed the start of the Gulf War and heated debate in the Japanese Diet on the doomed Gulf Cooperation Bill (GCB) that would have dispatched Self Defense Forces to the region and elsewhere in the world in a non-combatant role. 64 On 29 September 1990, the Japanese Maritime Safety Agency (MSA) decided to recognize the lighthouse constructed by the Seinensha in 1978 by including it in the official navigational charts and allowing members of the right-wing group to renovate the lighthouse, which they promptly did. 65 Drawing the conclusion that the GCB debate, MSA action and lighthouse renovation were more than coincidental, on
11 October members of the opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in the Taiwanese Legislative Yuan began pressuring their own government to break its silence and reaffirm sovereignty over Tiaoyutai. Facing pressure on the Kuomintang (KMT) government’s
As an affront to the Chinese and to demonstrate Japanese sovereignty over the Senkaku, members of the right-wing Japanese nationalist political organization, the Seirankai, including the prominent writer Shintaro Ishihara, promptly erected a simple lighthouse on Uotsuri, the largest of the disputed isles, within days of the Nakasone speech. The first beacon was nothing more than a simple electric lightbulb hanging from an iron pipe. 61 Subsequently, it seems, the Seirankai had planned to erect a second one, and enlisted the help and financial contribution of a second, bigger and wealthier right-wing Japanese nationalist organization, the Nihon Seinensha, or Japanese Youth Federation. However, although their application to the Ministry of Transport ministry to have their proposed lighthouse registered in the navigational chart was approved, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs apparently did not want to create another international incident and vetoed the proposal, and the lighthouse was not authorized for construction. The Seinensha nonetheless went ahead with its construction apparently without government opposition. While the crisis was taking place in April, chief cabinet secretary Shintaro Abe suggested that the Japanese government construct a heliport and a refuge port for fishermen facing typhoons. 62 However, no immediate action was taken because prime minister Fukuda refused to act on the suggestion. Interestingly enough, the Japanese government then proceeded to build a small helicopter pad on the main island of Uotsuri in August 1979, and in the aftermath of the Tiananmen crisis in China, when no one was paying attention, it officially endorsed the beacon erected originally by the Seirankai by including it in the official Japanese navigational charts published in September 1989. 63 Storm clouds were once again gathering over the Senkakus, after a dozen years of relative calm.
The third incident: of torches and lighthouses (1990)
The 1990 incident over the Senkakus was largely a row between the Japanese right-wing Seinensha group and Taiwanese fishermen’s associations, which turned out to be quite a formidable pressure group, ultimately involving the Japanese and Taiwanese governments. The fall of 1990 witnessed the start of the Gulf War and heated debate in the Japanese Diet on the doomed Gulf Cooperation Bill (GCB) that would have dispatched Self Defense Forces to the region and elsewhere in the world in a non-combatant role. 64 On 29 September 1990, the Japanese Maritime Safety Agency (MSA) decided to recognize the lighthouse constructed by the Seinensha in 1978 by including it in the official navigational charts and allowing members of the right-wing group to renovate the lighthouse, which they promptly did. 65 Drawing the conclusion that the GCB debate, MSA action and lighthouse renovation were more than coincidental, on
11 October members of the opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in the Taiwanese Legislative Yuan began pressuring their own government to break its silence and reaffirm sovereignty over Tiaoyutai. Facing pressure on the Kuomintang (KMT) government’s
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