Mapping the truth of history

Some Japanese media have made an issue out of the mistake made by certain old Chinese maps of not marking the Diaoyu Islands or using Japanese names to mark them. As a matter of fact, these old maps all had an explicit note that “some of China’s borderlines were demarcated based on the maps published before the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression (1937-1945)”. It is well known that during a long period of time before the war, China’s Taiwan and its affiliated Diaoyu Islands had been occupied by Japan and remained under its colonial rule. Due to such a history of Japanese aggression,some Chinese maps published during this period used Japanese terms to mark the Diaoyu Islands. The note on these maps exactly demonstrates that the geographic demarcations based on Japanese invasion had never been recognized by China. After the founding of the new China in 1949,despite the urgent task of reconstuction, China started to revise its old maps based on realities in a move to clarify geographic delineations. For example, in its 1956 and 1965 versions of the world map, the so-called Senkaku Islands were not included in Japan’s territory.

In fact,without such a history of Japanese aggression into China, Japan would not have marked the Diaoyu Islands as a part of its territory on its pre-1970s maps. Despite its illegal occupation of the Diaoyu Islands, many Japanese maps still did not mark these islands as Japan’s territory. Till now, maps published by Japan still use Chinese names to mark some islands, such as Huangwei Island and Chiwei Island.

The attempt by individual Japanese media to use the factual mistakes of some old Chinese maps to prove the Diaoyu Islands as a part of Japan’s territory runs counter to historical facts and is completely groundless. To make an issue of such old maps that were published during the special period also reflects the serious lack of self-reflection among some Japanese people on Japan's history of aggression, and lay bare their harbored intention to overturn the verdict of such a history. However, such attempts will achieve nothing but making the world more aware of their real intention.

In sharp contrast to such right-wing moves, some Japanese scholars, however, have long insisted that the Diaoyu Islands have been Chinese territory since ancient times. Kiyoshi Inoue, a Japanese historian, once conducted meticulous surveys and studies on Okinawa and consulted a lot of historical archives and maps. In his book on the history of Diaoyu Islands, he said that “none of the islands of the so-called Senkaku Islands ever belonged to the Ryukyu territory and on the contrary, they are generally believed to be a part of China”.

History allows no falsification and sovereignty brooks no infringement. No matter what means are used by the Japanese side to support its unilateral and illegal sovereign claims, the fact that the Diaoyu Islands are an inherent part of China’s territory cannot be distorted or changed.

The authors are Beijing-based scholars of international relations.

(China Daily 02/20/2014 page8)