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A presumably extra aggressive coverage towards Okinawa by China has been attracting consideration in East Asia lately. The notion stems from an specific reference made by Chinese language President Xi Jinping to Japan’s southernmost islands, often called the Ryukyu, in early June throughout a go to to the China Nationwide Archives of Publications and Tradition (CNAPC) and the Chinese language Academy of Historical past, a repository of Chinese language classical books. It’s uncommon for a Chinese language president to make such a reference, giving rise to hypothesis that an underlying motive could also be at play: a go to to China earlier this month by Denny Tamaki, governor of Okinawa Prefecture as a part of a delegation from Japan.
Xi Jinping’s remark was made throughout his tour of the CNAPC, when he stopped in entrance of an exhibit and listened to the curator’s clarification. It even warranted a point out within the Individuals’s Day by day. The remark got here in response to the curator’s clarification in regards to the “Information of the Imperial Title-conferring Envoys to Ryukyu” of the Ming Dynasty. This e-book describes the envoys dispatched by the Ming Dynasty to Ryukyu to convey Ryukyu’s place as a tributary state of the Ming Dynasty. The work is broadly identified in China as it’s believed to be the oldest document exhibiting that the Senkaku Islands (identified in China because the Diaoyu Islands) are Chinese language territory. (In Japan, the passage in query will not be thought-about to represent proof of this.)
When the curator talked about the passage referring to the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands, Xi remarked: “Once I was working in Fuzhou, I knew that Fuzhou had a Ryukyu Museum and a Ryukyu tomb, and that Fuzhou had a deep relationship with Ryukyu, and that the 36 clans of Fujian went over to the Ryukyu Islands and settled there.” The Ryukyu Museum commemorates the envoys who got here to China from Ryukyu to pay tribute to the Ming dynasty, and the Ryukyu tomb is the resting place of the Ryukyu individuals who died in Fuzhou. The 36 clans of Fujian, additionally known as the 36 clans of Kume, got here to Ryukyu and oversaw its dedication to pay tribute to the Ming Dynasty.
Xi’s remark could have been sparked by reminiscences of the greater than 15 years he spent working in Fujian province. Nonetheless, Xi instantly went on to emphasise the “want to gather and type classical books and woodblock-printed books to make sure the legacy and continued growth of Chinese language civilization.” This gave rise to widespread hypothesis, because it may very well be interpreted to imply that the connection with Okinawa is a part of Chinese language civilization.
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Xi’s comment was welcomed by Okinawa Prefecture Governor Denny Tamaki, who counseled Xi for his understanding of Okinawa.
The Individuals’s Republic of China acknowledges that Okinawa is Japanese territory. This place can also be supported by the truth that Okinawa Prefecture is included throughout the jurisdiction of the Fukuoka Consulate normal of the PRC. Certainly, it’s the Republic of China authorities in Taiwan that would appear to not acknowledge the truth that Okinawa Prefecture is Japanese territory. Nonetheless, questions over the standing of Okinawa have arisen continuously. Within the 2010s, for example, the Individuals’s Day by day revealed an article by a “scholar” who raised questions on whether or not Okinawa belonged to China. China’s official stance will not be that areas which as soon as paid tribute to China are Chinese language territory. It does, nonetheless, specific doubt about Okinawa’s standing as a part of Japan.
Arguments put ahead by “students” in media shops such because the Individuals’s Day by day are one factor. Feedback by Xi Jinping carry a special weight completely. Xi’s newest comment will gasoline extra controversy over the “Ryukyu” situation in China, and if it turns into one thing just like the Senkaku Islands situation, it is going to current a brand new problem for China-Japan relations.
Then again, surveys such because the Perspective Survey of Okinawa Prefectural Residents Towards China performed by Okinawa Prefecture within the 2010s present that the residents of Okinawa Prefecture have an especially unfavorable angle towards China. Whereas curiosity in Okinawa could also be growing in China, it’s unclear whether or not curiosity in China will equally enhance in Okinawa.