By April 1972, as the United States prepared to return to Japanese administration the eight uninhabited islets known as the Senkakus in Japan and the Diaoyus in China, the Sino-Japanese dispute over their ownership had reached fever pitch. Nationalism was in full flight not only in Japan, but also in mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong. When the Harvard Club of Japan invited me to lecture on the controversy, mine was the only voice in the country, other than that of a Kyoto University philosophy professor known for his communist sympathies, to publicly suggest that Japan had less than an airtight case to support its claim.

The Maryland Journal of International Law held a two-day symposium in early October to honor the late Professor Hungdah Chiu and his enduring legacy in relation to China, Taiwan, and International Law. Professor Cohen gave the keynote address for the symposium.

Although ECFA, the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement between China and Taiwan, continues to preoccupy popular attention, this past month the two sides made impressive progress in carrying out their less-known Agreement on Joint Cross-Strait Crime-Fighting and Mutual Judicial Assistance. That Agreement between their specially-constructed “semi-official” organizations concluded its second year on June 25. Shortly before this anniversary, police from both sides of the strait, with the help of counterparts in Indonesia, Cambodia, Malaysia and Thailand, netted 598 fraud suspects from Taiwan, China and other countries in a remarkable, precedent-setting joint operation.

Increasingly intense ocean disputes between China and its neighbors have heightened interest in Beijing’s theory and practice of international law. What legal principles does China invoke to support claims to islands in nearby seas? On what basis does Beijing believe sea boundaries should be drawn? What rights and obligations does it recognize regarding resources and foreign ships and aircraft within its maritime jurisdiction? What methods does it favor to resolve ocean disputes? This is the first in a series of articles on these issues.

Next month will mark the 30th anniversary of the signing of the US-China Consular Convention. Three decades of increasingly close Sino-American relations have demonstrated the value of this agreement to both countries in protecting the rights and interests of their nationals when visiting the other country.