The Diaoyutai Islands on Taiwan’s Official Maps: Pre- and Post-1971

Summary

Based on the available opening and closing sections, this report examines changes in the Republic of China’s (ROC) representation of the Diaoyutai Islands in the early 1970s through Taiwan provincial statistical publications, National War College atlases, National Institute for Compilation and Translation geography textbooks, and Combined Service Forces military topographic maps. The authors state that official maps before 1971 treated the islands as part of the Ryukyus or excluded them from ROC territory, while revisions beginning in 1971–1972 identified them as part of Taiwan or adopted Taiwanese names. The closing section specifically compares Combined Service Forces map indexes from 1962 and 1975: the later edition removed dashed lines surrounding the islands and added an arrow linking them to the Taipei City map sheet. The authors interpret these changes as a shift from acknowledging the islands as outside ROC territory to asserting sovereignty, and argue that this complicates Taiwan’s claim to ownership since ancient times. Drawing on the International Court of Justice’s 1962 Preah Vihear judgment, they discuss the potential legal weight of official maps and prolonged acquiescence, as well as the territorial risks of relying on foreign cartography. They disclaim support for any claimant and seek to supply cartographic evidence for possible future international arbitration; the visible material presents no judicial determination of sovereignty over the islands.