A widely circulated New York Times article (“Calls Grow in China to Press Claim for Okinawa,” June 14, 2013) reignited debate over the question of sovereignty in the Ryukyus—whether the islands properly belong to Japan or China. Unfortunately, the article omitted several important historical and cultural facts essential for an informed discussion of this sensitive issue.
The Times cites a Chinese official who argues against Japan’s sovereignty “because its inhabitants paid tribute to Chinese emperors hundreds of years before they started doing so in Japan.” The piece also quotes a Boston University professor who asserts that Japan conquered the Ryukyus in 1609. It is certainly true that the Ryukyus had been under the nominal suzerainty of China since 1372. But it is a misconception of Japanese history to say that the Ryukyu Kingdom subsequently paid tribute to Japan or that Japan conquered the Ryukyus in the seventeenth century.