Know more about Japan's disputed islands, Senkaku

New Delhi: Senkaku Islands are a group of uninhabited islands controlled by Japan in the East China Sea. Records of these islands date back to as early as the 15th century.They are known as Diaoyu Islands in China and Tiaoyutai Islands in Japan.These islands are located are located approximately 120 nautical miles northeast of Taiwan, 200 nautical miles east of the Chinese mainland and 200 nautical miles southwest of the Japanese island of Okinawa.As per reports these islands became an issue of dispute between China , Taiwan and Japan in 1968, when it was found that oil reserves might be found under the sea near the islands.Earlier These islands were known as Pinnacle Isles in Japan, this name was given to them by James Colnett, who charted them during his 1789-1791 voyage.It has been stated that the Japanese central government formally annexed the islands on 14 January 1895, naming them Senkaku but the islands and it sold three of the main islands of the group to Tatsushirō family in 1932.But thses Islands came under US government occupation in 1945 after the surrender of Japan ended World War II.In 1971, the Okinawa Reversion Treaty passed the U.S. Senate, returning the islands to Japanese control in 1972, with this transfer of ownership to Japan again, the Taiwanese and Chinese governments officially began to declare ownership of the islands.The mayor of Ishigaki was given the civic authority over the territory.After getting the ownership of the Islands back the Tatsushirō family sold the Nan Xiaodao and Bei Xiaodao to businessman Kunioki Kurihara from Saitama Prefecture in 1972, and again sold Diaoyu Island to him in 1978. Since then, the Kurihara family has become the purported private owner of the islands.On 11 September 2012, the Japanese government nationalized its control over Minami-kojima, Kita-kojima, and Uotsuri islands by purchasing them from the Kurihara family for ¥2.05 billion. China's Foreign Ministry objected saying Beijing would not “sit back and watch its territorial sovereignty violated.