The Sino-Japanese Conflict Today: An analysis of the territorial dispute over the Senkaku/Diaoyu Isles

Absztrakt (kivonat)

The territorial dispute between China and Japan over the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands have been a crucial issue since the early 70’s. While there were incidents in the past, the escalation of the dispute since the 2012 Japanese nationalisation on the majority of the islands seems to be the most serious in the history of the case. China’s power rose significantly in the recent years and today it is able to challenge Japan both diplomatically both militarily, leading to uncertainites and worries concerning the outcome of the dispute. In this essay I am going to analyze the situation based on the theoretical framework of neorealism (more specifically, the commitments) to find out, what are the factors that hinder diplomatic processes and raise tensions between the countries. My hypothesis is that the stalemate in negotations and the raising tension between Japan and China is present due to uncertainites in information, commitments, and due to the mutual lack of willingness to make a compromise.