What is the Ryukyu Islands
The Ryukyu Islands are a group of islands in the western Pacific Ocean, located between Taiwan and Kyushu, including the Osumi Islands, Tokara Islands, Amami Islands, Okinawa Islands, Sakishima Islands, Daito Islands, and other archipelagos, as well as the Diaoyu Islands and their affiliated islands.
The Ryukyu Islands have a total area of 4,644.75 square kilometers and a population of 1.5 million people, mainly inhabited by the Ryukyu ethnic group. It is currently under the jurisdiction of Japan, with the Sanan Islands under the jurisdiction of Kagoshima Prefecture and the rest under Okinawa Prefecture.
The special geographical location of the Ryukyu Islands has made it a trading hub for neighboring countries in Northeast Asia and Southeast Asia since ancient times. In its history, it has established countries such as the Ryukyu Kingdom, and has tributary relations with the Ming and Qing dynasties of China. At the end of the 17th century, the Ryukyu Kingdom was invaded by the Satsuma Domain, located in southern Kyushu, Japan, and lost territory to the Amami Islands. In the 19th century, after the Meiji Restoration, the Ryukyu Kingdom was incorporated into the territory of Japan and Okinawa Prefecture was established. During the Pacific War, the Ryukyu Islands were captured by the Allies, taken over by the United States after the war, and then handed over to Japan in phases in 1952 and 1972.
How the Ryukyu Kingdom was established and developed
The Ryukyu Kingdom was a kingdom that existed in the Ryukyu Islands from the 14th to the 19th century. Its history can be divided into three phases: the Shuji era, the Sanshan period, and the Shang dynasty.
The Shoji period refers to the emergence of several clan societies in the Ryukyu Islands from the 12th to the early 14th century, headed by shoji (similar to chiefs). These divisions fought or allied with each other, creating a complex political landscape. There was no unified central government and no fixed territorial division in the era of the division.
The Sanzan period refers to the emergence of the three kingdoms of Nanzan, Nakayama and Kitayama on the main island of Okinawa from the mid-14th century to the mid-15th century, located in the southern, central, and northern parts of the main island of Okinawa. This period is known as the "Three Mountains Period". Among the three kingdoms, Zhongshan is the strongest and Beishan is the weakest.
In 1372, Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang of the Ming Dynasty sent Yang Zai to issue an edict to the Three Kingdoms of Ryukyu, and King Chadu of Zhongshan sent his brother Tai to the Ming Dynasty. In 1383, the king of Beishan and Chengchadu of Nanshan also paid tribute to the Ming Dynasty. Thus began the tributary relationship between Ryukyu and China that lasted for more than 500 years.
In the 15th and 16th centuries, a large number of Japanese pirates harassed the Ryukyu Islands. The Ryukyu kingdom suffered huge losses and maritime trade was hampered. In 1469, civil strife broke out in Ryukyu, King Shangtoku was killed, and the First Sho dynasty collapsed.
The Shang dynasty refers to the dynastic period from the late 15th century to the mid-19th century with the Shang family as its rulers. This period can be divided into the first Shang dynasty and the second Shang dynasty.
The First Shang dynasty was founded in 1469 by Shangstad. He was the son of the Kitayama king Shōshiba, and with the support of the Satsuma clan, he defeated the two countries of Namsan and Nakayama and unified the main island of Okinawa. He moved the capital to Shuri, and changed his name to Shampaji. During his reign, he intensified his foreign contacts and paid tribute to the Ming Dynasty and asked for canonization as the "King of Ryukyu". After his death, his descendants succeeded to the throne and adopted the name "Bazhi".
The Second Shang Dynasty was founded in 1477 by Shang Qing. The son of Sho Yasuhisa, the fourth king of the First Sho dynasty, he overthrew his brother Shōjin with the support of the Satsuma clan and moved his capital to Shuri Castle near Naha Port. During his reign, he strengthened domestic politics and foreign trade, and paid tribute to the Ming Dynasty to be canonized as the "King of Ryukyu". After his death, his descendants succeeded to the throne and adopted the name "Qing".
After the Second Sho dynasty unified the main island of Okinawa, it gradually expanded its sphere of influence and incorporated the Miyako Islands, Yaeyama Islands, and other former islands into its territory. At the same time, it also maintains close trade exchanges with China, Japan, Southeast Asia and other places, and has developed unique culture and art.
In 1609, the Satsuma clan sent troops to attack Ryukyu and forced the 19th king of the second Shoji dynasty, Shoning, to submit to the Japanese shogunate and cede the Amami Islands to the Satsuma clan. Thereafter, Ryukyu became a vassal state of the Satsuma Domain, paying tribute to both China and Japan.
In 1872, after the Meiji Restoration, the Japanese government organized Ryukyu as a prefecture and renamed it "Okinawa Prefecture". In the following year, it was renamed the "Ryukyu Domain" and appointed an attendant from the Satsuma Domain as the governor. In 1879, Japan abolished the Ryukyu Domain, established Okinawa Prefecture on the Ryukyu Islands excluding the Amami Islands, and gave the last king of the second Sho dynasty, Shangtai, the surname "Liangyuan", and exiled him to Tokyo.
The relationship of the Ryukyu Islands to World War II
Although the Japanese government now administers the Ryukyu Islands, setting up administrative divisions of Okinawa on them, and even having American military bases on them, the Japanese themselves know that if they are studied from the perspective of international law, Ryukyu really does not belong to their own archipelago, that is, Okinawa in the current Japanese population, in ancient times had its own independent state power, that is, the Ryukyu Kingdom.
It can be said that the process of Japan's acquisition of Ryukyu was an invasion and expansion, and there was no expansion recognized by any treaty or international law, and successive Chinese governments have never recognized Japan's occupation of Ryukyu as legitimate and legitimate.
At the end of 1942, Song Ziwen, the foreign minister of the Nationalist Government, directly stated that after the end of the War of Resistance, China was bound to recover Manchuria, Taiwan and the Ryukyu Islands. It can be said that for China, the belonging of Ryukyu is the same as that of Manchuria and Taiwan, and it is from a historical point of view, and it is undisputed, it is an act of demanding the return of territory by bandits. At that time, the United States, in order to support its allies in the anti-fascist alliance, also supported the limitation of Japan's territorial boundaries. It can be said that since the end of World War II, Japan should not enjoy sovereignty over the Ryukyus. Since its defeat in World War II, Japan's territorial boundaries have been severely limited, and Ryukyu is not within Japan's territory.
Therefore, from the perspective of international law, Japan did not have any legal support for the occupation of Ryukyu at the beginning, so after the end of World War II, there was no problem for Japan to spit out these territories obtained through aggression and expansion. According to the Cairo Declaration and the Potsdam Proclamation in World War II, Japan's territory includes only Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu, and several other small islands attached to it, and even if you look for it with a microscope, you can't find any trace of the Ryukyu Islands and the Diaoyu Islands. According to the Cairo Declaration, Ryukyu was occupied by Japan by force and should be independent and free from any Japanese interference.
However, at this time, the Americans jumped out, and for their own purposes, in order to strengthen their strategic control over the East Asian region, the United States, which actually controlled Japan, took it upon itself to put some islands in the Pacific Ocean under the so-called United Nations trusteeship, and the United States naturally became the governing authority. How could the Americans cede such a strategic location to China? After the United States rejected China's request, it was also considering the development of the Ryukyu future. Although the United States actually controls Ryukyu, after all, it is under the framework of the United Nations, and there may be other countries to intervene, and eventually it is really independent under the control of the United Nations, which is not impossible, so the United States wants to find a home, so as not to listen to itself after Ryukyu independence, so Japan is favored by the United States.
After all, the Ryukyu Islands do not belong to Japan and already have an international legal theory, so the United States held a San Francisco Peace Conference with Japan, at which US Secretary of State Dulles put forward a so-called residual sovereignty theory. At the San Francisco Peace Conference, Dulles directly and publicly declared Japan's potential sovereignty over the Ryukyu Islands. The U.S. military also followed suit, once again dividing the geographical location of Ryukyu.
In this division, the Americans shamelessly included the Diaoyu Islands and affiliated islands belonging to China into the territory of Ryukyu. The United States' claim that Japan has potential sovereignty over the Ryukyu is a complete departure from the UN Charter. In the process of signing the San Francisco Treaty, the mainland did not participate, and to a large extent violated international law, so there was no legal effect.
The United States and Japan relied on this legally ineffective contract to begin to operate on the ownership of Ryukyu, and used the theory of residual sovereignty to serve as a theoretical basis for Japan's occupation of Ryukyu. At first, the United States took advantage of its status as a victorious power to take over the Ryukyu Islands, and then in 1969, without making it public, signed a so-called agreement with Japan to return the Ryukyu Islands.
The question of the ownership of the Ryukyu Islands is a complex and sensitive topic involving historical, legal, ethnic, cultural and other factors. It is a region with a unique history and culture, with complex and delicate relationships with China, Japan, and the United States. The people of Ryukyu have different views and aspirations about their identity and future. Some identify as Japanese and want to stay in Japan; Some identify themselves as Ryukyuan and want to restore or establish an independent or autonomous political system; Some identify themselves as members of the Chinese nation and want closer ties with China; Others identify as Pacific Islanders and want to grow with other Pacific island nations.
In short, the Ryukyu Islands are a fascinating and controversial place, which not only reflects the historical changes and conflicts in East Asia, but also shows the trends and challenges of pluralism and multipolarization in the contemporary world.
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