Old Chinese Maps Have No Reference to Diaoyu

Beijing, Dec. 29 (Jiji Press)--Maps created by Chinese government-affiliated publishers after the 1949 establishment of the People's Republic of China and by July 1971 had no reference to Diaoyu, the Chinese name of the Japanese-controlled Senkaku islands in the East China Sea, Jiji Press learned Sunday. While China started to claim the islands as its own in 1971, the name Diaoyu was not found either in domestic maps produced by China's state surveying and mapping bureau before the year. It was also found that China is seen to have moved its borderline with Japan around the islands on the map since it began to claim sovereignty over the island chain. Jiji Press learned these by checking some 50 world and domestic maps published in China between 1946 and 2003. It is believed to be the first time that maps published in China have been systematically checked over the Senkaku islands, according to experts. Kentaro Serita, president of Japan's Kyoto Notre Dame University who is versed in issues related to the Senkaku islands, said the fact that maps created by Chinese government-affiliated publishers had no reference to Diaoyu shows that China had not regard the islands as its territory. The discovery of these maps could affect discussions between Japan and China at a time when the two countries' relations have been strained following Japan's nationalization of three of the five uninhabited islands in September 2012 and China's establishment last month of an air defense identification zone over the East China Sea that includes airspace around the island chain. In recent years, the Chinese government has been strictly controlling the management of maps with no reference to Diaoyu. For example, a national library in Beijing now prohibits visitors from viewing old maps. Jiji Press obtained the 50 maps, mainly those published by government-affiliated SinoMaps, the most authoritative map publisher in China, at antiquarian booksellers in Beijing. Among the maps are those published in 1951, 1953, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1963, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1969 and 1970, or before China began to assert ownership of the Senkaku islands. A detailed examination revealed that all maps published in July 1971 and later, excluding some wall maps of the world, had the name of Diaoyu for the islands and Chiwei Yu, the name for one of the islands, called Taisho in Japan. In maps published in June 1971 and before, however, Diaoyu was not found at all in pages for mainland China or Taiwan. This contradicts China's current assertion that the Senkaku islands are attached part of Taiwan, which China claims is part of the country. In addition, the Japan-China borderline drawn between Yonagunijima, the westernmost island of Japan, and Taiwan on maps published in July 1971 and later was moved southward compared with maps created earlier, apparently to clearly show that the Senkaku islands are part of China. Meanwhile, a map published in November 1958 contained Senkaku and Uotsuri, the Japanese name for the largest of the five islands, suggesting that China had recognized the islands as Japanese territory. Among old maps publicized by the Geospatial Information Authority of Japan, those created in 1930, 1962 and 1973 had such names as Senkaku and Uotsuri. END