Drawing on an article by Yoshihisa Komori published in the Sankei Shimbun, this chapter examines bipartisan moves in the U.S. Congress to reject China’s claims of sovereignty and territorial ownership over the Senkaku Islands and to impose sanctions on Chinese entities responsible for intrusions into Japanese territorial waters.
As the United States moves beyond its traditional neutrality and strongly supports Japan’s position, the article argues that Japan has a rare opportunity to demonstrate its sovereignty and effective control through concrete action.

July 20, 2020
The United States does not recognize China’s claims of sovereignty or territorial ownership over the Senkaku Islands.
The U.S. government opposes countries and organizations that support China’s claim of sovereignty over the Senkaku Islands, and it also refuses to recognize maps and other materials depicting the Senkaku Islands as Chinese territory.
The following is taken from an article by Yoshihisa Komori, guest correspondent stationed in Washington, published in yesterday’s Sankei Shimbun under the title “An Opportunity for Japan to Act over the Senkaku Islands.”
The U.S. government has rejected China’s territorial claims over islands in the South China Sea.
However, it does not appear to be widely known that the U.S. Congress had already explicitly rejected China’s territorial claim to the Senkaku Islands in Ishigaki City, Okinawa Prefecture, and declared, through bipartisan legislation, a policy of imposing sanctions in response to incursions by Chinese vessels into Japanese territorial waters.
Now that the United States, Japan’s ally, is offering such strong bipartisan support for Japan’s position on the Senkaku Islands, this would be an ideal opportunity for Japan to take independent action on the islands in order to demonstrate its sovereignty and effective control.
An official statement issued by Secretary of State Pompeo on the thirteenth rejected China’s claims of sovereignty over all the disputed islands in the South China Sea as “completely unlawful.”
This move by the Trump administration had, in fact, been encouraged by a forceful policy proposal released in June by influential Republican members of the House of Representatives.
The proposal, titled “Strengthening America and Countering Global Threats,” condemned China’s maritime activities in the South China Sea and East China Sea as dangerous acts of aggression and recommended that the U.S. government strengthen its response, including through military means.
A particularly noteworthy feature of the proposal was that it also regarded China’s militarily linked offensive against the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea as unlawful and highlighted the “South China Sea and East China Sea Sanctions Act,” which had already been introduced in both chambers of the U.S. Congress.
The bill, which was introduced in the Senate in May of the previous year and was under consideration by the Foreign Relations Committee and other committees, completely rejected China’s claim of sovereignty over the Senkaku Islands.
Its principal points were as follows:
・In the East China Sea, China claims territorial ownership of the Senkaku Islands, which are under Japanese administration, and continues aggressive, militarily linked incursions.
The United States opposes these Chinese actions as unlawful conduct that undermines peace and stability in the East China Sea.
・The United States does not recognize China’s claims of sovereignty or territorial ownership over the Senkaku Islands.
The U.S. government opposes countries and organizations that support China’s claim of sovereignty over the Senkaku Islands and refuses to recognize maps or other materials depicting the Senkaku Islands as Chinese territory.
In this case, the traditional U.S. practice of “taking no position on territorial disputes between other countries” would be abandoned.
The bill further declared that various sanctions would be imposed on those responsible for Chinese organizations that entered Japanese territorial waters around the Senkaku Islands.
Its contents were truly groundbreaking.
Another noteworthy point was that many of the fifteen senators who co-sponsored the bill were prominent figures.
Among the Republican sponsors were Senators Marco Rubio and Mitt Romney, while the Democratic sponsors included Senator Tim Kaine, who had been the vice-presidential candidate in the previous presidential election.
It was a unified bipartisan declaration of intent.
The same bill was introduced in the House of Representatives in June of the previous year.
The legislative branch was demanding that the government formally reject China’s claim of sovereignty over the Senkaku Islands.
Secretary Pompeo had also begun to use language suggesting that the rejection of Chinese sovereignty claims in the South China Sea would be extended to the East China Sea.
Successive U.S. governments and Congresses have repeatedly made clear that the Senkaku Islands fall within the scope of joint defence under the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty and that the United States respects Japan’s administrative control.
However, there was no precedent for the explicit rejection of China’s claim of sovereignty.
In terms of U.S. support, this was an unprecedented situation.
For Japan, it was a rare opportunity to demonstrate through concrete action its sovereignty and administrative control over the Senkaku Islands, both of which were being seriously eroded.