14 January 1895: the Government of Japan made a Cabinet Decision to erect markers on the islands to formally incorporate the Senkaku Islands into the territory of Japan.[1]
From 1895 to 1940, four of the islands were developed by Koga Tatsushirō (古賀 辰四郎) and his family, with the permission of the Japanese government.[2] He established a Katsuobushi factory and about 200 Japanese residents on the islands.[3] In 1909, Japanese population of the islands became 248.[3][4]
23 February 1971 Taiwan made the first public assertion for its own claim to the Senkaku Islands.[6]
17 June 1971: The Okinawa Reversion Agreement between the United States and Japan was signed.[7]
30 December 1971: The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of People's Republic of China (PRC) first officially claimed sovereignty when Japan made known its official standpoint with the signing of the Okinawa Reversion Treaty.[8][9]
In 1978, a Japanese nationalist group, Nihonseinensha built a lighthouse on Uotsuri Jima, which was subsequently handed over to the Japanese government in 2005.[10][11]
^Drifte, Reinhard (2012). Japan's Security Relations with China Since 1989: From Balancing to Bandwagoning?. Routledge. p. 49. ISBN1134406673. The dispute surfaced with the publication of a seismic survey report under the auspices of the UN Economic Commission for Asia and the Far East (ECSFE) in 1968, which mentioned the possibility of huge oil and gas reserves in the area; this was confirmed by a Japanese report in 1969. Greg Austin mentions that Beijing started its claim to the Senkaku Islands for the first time in 1970, after Japanese government protested to the government in Taiwan about its allocation of oil concessions in the East China Sea, including the area of the Senkaku Islands.
^Nakauchi, Yasuo (2010.12). "on Senkaku Islands"(PDF). [Legislation and Reseerach]. Issues (in Japanese) (311). Diplomatic and Defense Committee Research Office, The House of Councilors of Japan: 29. August 1978: A Japanese political group constructed a lighthouse on Uotsurijima. (Later 1988, a new lighthouse was constructed on the same island.) February 2005: The political group relinquished the ownership of the lighthouse, Japanese government nationalized it.{{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
