U.S. Avoided Mention of Senkakus in 1971 Agreement
The Asahi reports that some newly released diplomatic records show the United States was deliberately vague in the wording of the agreement it made in 1971 to return Okinawa prefecture to Japan, so as to avoid taking a strong position on the Senkaku Islands:
During a meeting in May 1971, U.S. Ambassador to Japan Armin Meyer told Foreign Minister Kiichi Aichi that while the United States would return the area under its administration, it would not get involved in the “adjudication” of historic or future territorial claims, according to a record of the meeting declassified by Japan on Wednesday.
Meyer said Washington wanted to avoid a situation where it could be dragged into the International Court of Justice to verify legal claims over territories such as the Senkaku Islands. The United States took a cautious stance because China and Taiwan began making new claims to the islands.
In response, Aichi told Meyer that Japan had taken the U.S. position into account and would not insist on a specific mention of the name of the Senkaku Islands.
Although the islands were not specifically mentioned in that agreement, it does not change the fact that the United States administered the islands from 1945 until the 1970′s and never handed over the islands to Taiwan or China (since neither claimed the islands until the 1970′s). During that same period, the Americans used the islands for military exercises and paid rent to the Japanese owner of the islands .
In September of this year, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told the Japanese government that the Senkaku islands were included in the scope of the U.S.-Japan security treaty.
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