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Editor's Note: The Japanese government has recently decided to set up within the Cabinet Secretariat a 'Planning and Coordination Office for Territory/Sovereignty Measures' that would deal with the territorial issues of Dokdo, the Senkakus (Daioyudao (釣魚島) in Chinese), and the four Kuril Islands (known in Japan as the Northern Territories), reported NHK. And the so-called 'Takeshima (竹島·Japanese name of Dokdo) Day' event held on February 22nd, 2013 was attended by Shimaziri Aiko (島尻安伊子), the cabinet official (deputy minister-level) in charge of ocean policy/territorial issues, the first official of Japan's central government ever to attend the event. This series of developments is revealing Japan's ambition for our land Dokdo. This month's issue of newsletter highlights them in special reports (Special Reports 1, 2, 3) by NAHF Research Fellows.

The establishment of this new organization, distinguished from any other of its kind in the past in that it is to be established within the Cabinet Secretariat, the key agency, Japan's equivalent of South Korea's Presidential Secretariat, is an expression of the Abe (安倍晋三) Cabinet's committment to dealing with territorial issues. The Planning and Coordination Office for Territory/Sovereignty Measures' will be a merged and expanded version of the existing 'Takeshima (竹島) Issue Task Force' established in the Cabinet Secretariat last November. According to NHK, this task force will be merged with the 'Northern Measures Headquarters,' a Cabinet Secretariat agency that deals with the issues of the four islands in the Northern territories, and then reorganized into the Planning and Coordination Office for Territory/Sovereignty Measures. The new office is also expected to take over the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' function of taking Senkakus measures.

'Takeshima Issue Task Forceʼ to be Merged and Expanded to Step Up Efforts to Promote 'Takeshima'

Earlier, on January 23rd, in a meeting with a Shimane (島根) Prefecture official, the acting secretary general of the LDP Hosoda Hiroyuki (細田博之) said, "We are coordinating efforts to set up within the government an office or bureau dedicated to dealing with the territorial issue of Dokdo under illegal occupation of South Korea. We told the Prime Minister, 'It will be undesirable to be without an office of territorial issues.' (The establishment of the dedicated office) will most likely come to pass." To assert to people at home and abroad that Dokdo, the Senkaku Islands, and the Northern Territories are Japanese territory, the 'Planning and Coordination Office for Territory/Sovereignty Measures' will take on the roles of coordinating policies and formulating strategies within the Japanese government. Being a revamped version of the merged and expanded 'Takeshima Issue Task Force' established in the Cabinet Secretariat to deal with the issue of sovereign rights to Dokdo, this new office will reportedly step up efforts to promote 'Takeshima.' The functions that will be assigned to this newly established office include: promotion of the legitimacy of Japan's sovereignty claims to the Northern Territories and the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea in dispute with China; and coordination within the government.
In relation to this, Minister of State for Okinawa and Northern Territories Affairs Yamamoto Ichita (山本一太), who is also Minister of State for Ocean Policy and Territorial Issues, said in a press conference in the morning on the 5th, "We will strengthen the system to let it be known that Japan's assertion is valid," explaining the purpose of setting up the new organization. He also expressed his intention of launching a council of experts by saying, "To verify the claims made so far (surrounding sovereign rights), we would like help from intellectuals."

Northeast Asian Sovereignty Disputes Likely to Intensify Further

When some concerns were expressed about the new office's role on the Dokdo issue, a figure who played a pivotal role in foreign affairs and security during the Noda (野田佳彦) administration said that dealing with China's challenge surrounding sovereign rights to the Senkaku Islands would be the key mission of the Planning and Coordination Office. The questionnaire on Dokdo submitted on January 29th by Ishikawa Tomohiro (石川知裕), a House of Representatives member from the New Party Daichi, includes the question "if the Abe Cabinet was considering appointing Minister of State for Dokdo and setting up an office within the government dedicated to dealing with issues related to Dokdo." In its written reply dated February 8th, the Japanese government answered that "the Abe Cabinet had appointed Minister of State for Ocean Policy and Territorial Issues, and set up the Planning and Coordination Office for Territory/Sovereignty Measures within the Cabinet Secretariat for the planning, policy-making and overall coordination of developing public opinion on Japan's territory and sovereignty, including public opinion on Dokdo." The establishment of the Planning and Coordination Office for Territory/Sovereignty Measures is an expression of the Japanese government's intention of getting more assertive in sovereignty disputes. Therefore, sovereignty disputes between South Korea and Japan surrounding Dokdo and between China and Japan surrounding the Senkaku Islands are expected to intensify further.