evidence: China, Taiwan and Japan claim these islands as their territory. Japan calls the uninhabited rocks the Senkaku Islands, the Chinese – the Diaoyu Islands. Japan controls the islands, but China’s craft are intruding into their territorial waters and airspace with increasing frequency. [...] The Senkaku (in Chinese, Diaoyu) Islands are contested between Japan, the People’s Republic of China and the Republic of China (Taiwan). Historically, China has a strong claim. [...] - After the World War II capitulation of Japan in 1945, Taiwan returned to the Chinese Republic of Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek. The United States occupied Japan until its sovereignty was restored in 1953, under the Treaty of San Francisco - However, Okinawa and the Senkaku Islands remained under American administration until 1972, when they were returned to Japan - The United States held on to two island chains, Iwo Jima and Okinawa, on which it established significant military bases. In 1972, most of Okinawa was returned to Japanese sovereignty and the Senkaku Islands were handed over to the Japanese - The Chinese have never accepted this state of affairs. The matter is of particular sensitivity to Beijing, as China had suffered massive war damages and humiliations under Japanese occupation - Notably, nationalist circles in mainland China hold that the entire archipelago of Okinawa should be part of China, as in former times, when the islands were known as the Ryukyu Kingdom and the local rulers paid obeisance to the emperor in Beijing as early as in the 14th century