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The situation of international politics in East Asia is alarming. The China-Japan diplomatic conflict, sparked by the clash with Chinese fishing vessels on the waters around the Senkaku Islands in September 2010, became worse when the Japanese government 'nationalized' three of the Senkaku Islands in September 2012. When China unilaterally established the East China Sea Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) in November 2013, Japan attempted to lift the Consitutional constraint on its exercise of the right of collective self-defense while closely watching China's every subsequent move. Commenting on the increasingly serious territorial dispute in East Asia due to the China-Japan clash over the Senkakus, Korean media drew a parallel, quoting Foreign Policy, a U.S. news magazine focused on current affairs, with the Balkan crisis where the rise of nationalism and the intensifying territorial conflict had eventually triggered a world war.

As an observer of this serious diplomatic war unfolding between China and Japan, the Northeast Asian History Foundation realized the magnitude of territorial issues in East Asia and the potentially grave consequences of these issues on the protection of our sovereignty over Dokdo, and has selected "The Past, Present, and Future of Territorial Disputes in East Asia" as a special research topic. Territorial Issues in East Asia and Dokdo is the result of the research conducted on that topic for three years from 2011 to 2013.

The Impact of Territorial Issues in East Asia on Sovereignty over Dokdo

This book consists of seven papers, each written by one of the seven researchers involved in the joint research. These papers reviewed and analyzed the following issues and phenomena: a study on China's argument and the logic of Japan's response as shown in the diplomatic battle between the two countries over the ownership of the Senkaku Islands from September 2010 onward; a study on the territorial policies of Japan and Russia in a long-standing battle over the return of four of the Kuril Islands; a study on the development of the issues of territories and territorial waters taking place over many islands on the South China Sea between China and its neighboring countries; a study on the U.S attitude and policy toward territorial issues in East Asia; and a study on the resolved cases of territorial disputes in this region.

The papers constituting this book are based on structural realism by Kenneth Waltz as an underlying theory. According to Kenneth Waltz, international politics without a world government is in a state of anarchy, and the State as the most important player places emphasis on the protection of territories and territorial waters. This structural theory of neorealism applies to the reality of international politics in Northeast Asia where China is rising as a global nation and increasing its military expenditure by no less than 12 percent every year, the US and Japan are strengthening their alliance, Japan is trying to exercise the right of collective self-defense, North and South Korea are in a state of military confrontation, and there is a possibility that North Korea might conduct additional nuclear tests. On the basis of Kenneth Waltz's notion, this books describes the level of analysis of each of the chapters in terms of political leadership, domestic political factors, and the structural influence of international politics.

It is a very likely interpretation that East Asia, like Kenneth Waltz argued, is a region where the systematic results of international politics brought about by external powers are projected. In particular, the Korean Peninsula is a region where the results of changes in international politics among powers are directly projected, and, it has a peculiar historical experience that it has never been free from the development of the international politics of powers due to structural limitations. Furthermore, even today, no other region is more exposed to the politics of the potential transition of power.

Research Fellow Lee Myong-Chan observed that the most underlying cause of the China-Japan conflict over the Senkaku Islands was the 'power shift' by which the Chinese people could leave behind what they remembered as their 'humiliating past of 100 years' and make a new beginning toward realizing the 'Chinese Revival.' According to Ha Do-hyung, when Japan handled the Chinese vessels and took the strong measure of nationalization in dealing with the issue surrounding the Senkaku Islands, Japan did it as part of a national security strategy rather than treating it as an isolated case of territorial dispute, and China, on its part, responded by taking strong policy measures in line with its policy of responding to threats coming from the sea while considering the structure of the current regional order. Ko Bong-joon viewed the rise of China and the North Korean issues as important issues that influence not only the region but the U.S. world strategy. He observed that maintaining stability and protecting the interests of the U.S. in East Asia was such an important task that it could make or break the U.S. as a world country, and, therefore, East Asia was a key issue to the U.S. for now.

"The Realistic Approach to Territorial Issues Stands Out"

"The Past, Present, and Future of Territorial
Disputes in East Asia" conference in session

Primary sources are provided at the end of the book so that the readers could make an objective and sober assessment of the treaties regarding territorial issues in East Asia and the policies on these issues by the foreign ministries of different countries. The international treaties and foreign ministry's statements by the U.S., China, and Japan directly related to territorial issues will help the readers understand the arguments of each country.

In his review of Territorial Issues in East Asia and Dokdo, Professor Yang Ki-ho at Sungkonghoe University said, "This book goes beyond existing studies so far and takes a realistic approach to territorial issues in East Asia, describing in detail the U.S. principles, each country's argument on territorial issues and domestic politics, the impact of the factors of the political leader's leadership on territorial issues, the pursuit of the resolution of the China-Russia territorial issue, of alternative solutions to the conflict over the ownership of the Spratly Islands, including the process of successful resolution and diplomatic coordination."

If the results of this research provided effective measures against Japan's increasingly provocative claims on Dokdo, inspired those in charge of policies to protect sovereignty over Dokdo with new alternative solutions, and gave a fresh impetus to researchers, that would be the best I could hope for.