From Pedra Branca to Diaoyutai

从白礁岛看钓鱼台

国际法庭下判，白礁岛(Pedra Branca)主权归星加坡。我在报章上看到有关的新闻后，想起了另一个海事纷争：钓鱼台。

全世界的华人都认为：钓鱼台是中国领土。大家都愤怒的谴责日本“非法占领”这个东海的小岛。但是，如果我们能心平气和的看待这纷争，就会知道事情并不那么简单。

按中国的说法：中国人最先发现钓鱼台，所以它自古以来就是中国的领土。但国际法律是以西方法律为蓝本，而在西方法律中，“发现”并不等于“拥有”。西方人中，荷兰人最早发现澳洲，但澳洲后来却成了英国的殖民地。（华人大概都会坚称郑和最早发现澳洲和美洲吧！）

再说，日本人也没有武力占据钓鱼台。（日本人称钓鱼台为尖阁岛 Senkaku。）1945年日本战败，美国占领冲绳和钓鱼台，中国光复台湾。1972年美国将钓鱼台连同冲绳交还日本。中国国民党和共产党原本可以向美国索取钓鱼台，但是他们却没有这么做。

当然，我不是国际法律专家，不能说钓鱼台应属哪一国。但作为星马华人，我们无需像中国人那般仇视日本人。

同样的，我也没有因为白礁岛之争而仇视星加玻人，毕竟我的姐夫是星加玻公民。

International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that the tiny island of Pedra Branca (a.k.a Pulau Batu Puteh) belonged to Singapore, not Malaysia. While I was reading this news, I thought of another territorial dispute – one that is related to Diaoyutai, or Senkaku.

All Chinese in this world believe that Diayutai belongs to China. They angrily condemn Japan for “unlawfully occupying” the isles in the East China Sea. But if we can cool down to study the dispute, we will realize that the issue is not so straight forward.

According to China, Diaoyutai was discovered by the Chinese, so it is historically part of the Middle Kingdom. Unfortunately, international law is based on Western law, and in Western law, “discovery” does not equate “possession”. Among Europeans, the Dutch were to first to set foot on Australia, but the continent eventually became a British colony. (Now the Chinese will tell you that Admiral Zheng He was the first person to have discovered both Australia and the America.)

Furthermore, the Japanese did not take over Diaoyutai by force as many Chinese are brainwashed to believe. (The Japanese refer to Diaoyutai as Senkaku.) Japan was defeated in the end of World War II, when Americans occupied Okinawa and Senkaku, and China reclaimed Taiwan. In 1972, Senkaku was returned to Japan together with Okinawa. The Chinese – both Kuomintang and the Communists – could have requested the U.S. to hand over Senkaku right after 1945, but they failed to do so.

Of course, I am not a legal expert, and I can’t say for sure which nation has sovereignty over the disputed islands. However, as Chinese in South-East Asia, we need not “hate” the Japanese like the China nationals do.

Likewise, I didn’t hate Singaporeans over the Pedra Branca dispute. After all, my brother-in-law is a Singaporean.