The conflicts over Diaoyu Islands was started by Japan in 'nationalizing' China's islands.Japan's actions unilaterally changed the status quo and caused all the trouble now. To begin with, Japan should have returned these islands to China according to the Cairo Declaration and the Potsdam Proclamation, which US signed with its then allies including China and UK. Japan， after it was defeated, was forced to formally accept the Cairo and Potsdam documents in its famous Instrument of Surrender. The terms of these documents were incorporated into Japanese Constitution too. The conflicts over the Spartley Islands （南沙群岛） and the Paracel Islands （西沙群岛） are the same. These islands were returned to China by Japan after it lost the war according to the Cairo Declaration and the Potsdam Proclamation. These were recognized in Philippines's old maps which did not include these in its territory. But in its recent years, the Ph occupied some Chinese Islands and put these in its new maps. Similarly, Viet Nam recognized officially that the Spartleys and Paracels belong to China in 1956 in official documents.. But later Viet Nam started putting several oil rigs in cooperation with foreign companies. The west media turned a black eye on this fact. This article totally, like the view of most US media, totally ignored history and legal basis of these claims. The only claim, these small countries have are based on UNCLOS. But please note that the UNCLOS does not take away historically owned territories.As a matter of fact, the oil rig China put is closer to China controlled inhabited islands than it is from Viet Nam.
