A recent document produced by the United States government shows that the U.S. has never recognized Japan's claim of "sovereignty" over the Diaoyu Islands.
The report, "Diaoyu Islands Dispute: U.S. Treaty Obligations," was released on Sept. 25 by the U.S. Congressional Research Service and clarifies the U.S. government stand on the sovereignty issue.
The U.S. government position was also echoed by Henry Kissinger in his latest remarks reported by global media.
During U.S. Senate deliberations in October 1971 on whether to consent to the ratification of the "Okinawa Reversion Treaty," the U.S. State Department asserted that the United States took a neutral position on the competing claims of Japan and China over the islands, "despite the return of the islands to Japanese administration," said the report.
It did not mention that even the so-called return of administration of the islands to Japan ran against principles of the Cairo Declaration of 1943 and the Potsdam Proclamation of 1945.
"Department officials asserted that reversion of administrative rights to Japan did not prejudice any claims to the islands," the report said.
When asked during the "Okinawa Reversion Treaty" hearings in October 1971 how the "treaty" would affect the determination of Diaoyu Islands sovereignty, then U.S. Secretary of State William Rogers said, "This treaty does not affect the legal status of those islands at all," according to the report.
