Resolving Senkaku / Diaoyudao Islet Disputes: Graph Model for Conflict Resolution (GMCR) Analysis

Since their purchase by the Japanese government from their private owners in September 2012, the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands have been a topic of protest and discontent in the East China Sea and its surrounding area. While current conflicts have arisen because of skirmishes with patrol boats and sightings of Chinese drones flying over the islands, disputes over sovereignty of the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands have existed since the cession of Chinese territory in the Treaty of Shimonoseki following China’s defeat in the Sino-Japanese War. Original ownership of the islands was never officially settled between China and Japan, but after the establishment of several more international treaties in the twentieth century, jurisdiction over the islands became unclear and practically undeterminable. While conflicts were set aside during the latter half of the twentieth century in order to improve Sino-Japanese relationships, the purchase of the islands and military activity renewed tensions between the two nations. Present-day territorial disputes over the sovereignty of the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands are a result of the multiple cessions and reversions of control in twentieth century treaty laws between China and Japan.

Brockmann, Erich. (1996, May). Removing the paradox of conflict from group decisions. Academy of Management Executive. v10n2, p. 61-62.

Their different bases of knowledge give group members various types of power and influence.  Three interaction techniques that are frequently utilized are unilateral decisions, adversarial proceedings, and negotiations. (G. Larry Mays (n.d), para. 3)

This militarized conflict arose from Japan’s attempt to create a colonial empire, spanning the various Pacific Ocean. Because of its stature, Japan experienced several natural resource shortages, which triggered widespread panic among the people. Consequently, the Japanese government established a strategic framework from which they would acquire the territory, which could compensate for such scarcities: this underlying structure instituted a system through which Japan would conquer a significant portion of the territory, contained within the Pacific Ocean. Japanese

When examining these issues, it’s possible to determine which conflict that is being dealt with by looking at the cues that are provided. These cues include end goals related to the conflict, flexibility, and the interests of the parties involved within the conflict. Realistic conflict involves issues that can solved when party are willing to work towards a common goal, and nonrealistic conflict occurs when they are trying to win. Nonrealistic conflicts will consist of less flexible parties, and are best handled with fore or coercion to reach an end goal. This will stop the conflict from escalation or being all together avoided by the members involved. Conflicts that are readily identified can be controlled, and the best solutions can be

Conflict is a fact of life - for individuals, organizations, and societies. The costs of conflict are well-documented - high turnover, grievances and lawsuits, absenteeism, divorce, dysfunctional families, prejudice, fear. What many people don't realize is that well-managed conflict can actually be a force for positive change.

In deciding on which course of action would be the most appropriate in resolving the Taiwan-China conflict, it would be necessary to understand the conflict and the attempts made to resolve such conflict to have a proper perspective on the issue. It would also help to analyze why the previous techniques were not successful before adopting any policy recommendation to resolve the conflict.

Conflict is a natural part of small group interactions and discussions. There are times when conflict can be helpful to the group by bringing up problems that may not have been noticed by the group. There are also times when conflict can be detrimental to a group dynamic by causing the group damage. Conflict management is having the ability to manage conflict within a group where there is a good amount of conflict of ideas without a large amount of conflict of feelings (Tubbs, 2012). Blake and Mouton’s Conflict Grid is a model used to mange conflict within a group. I will describe a conflict I have personally dealt with in the workplace and use Blake and Mounton’s Grid to identify the styles used from the grid as well as recommend

In order to reach a collaborative solution, a team must work to resolve conflict in a productive manner. Avoidance is one resolution strategy many teams use. Avoidance is not a valid resolution strategy in most instances though. Avoidance sweeps conflict aside in order for the team to pursue more productive avenues. “If the conflict is not central to the work of the team, it may be best to set it aside so that the important work of the team can proceed” (Porter, ρ.3). Only under these circumstances should avoidance be used. Another technique, compromise, is similar to avoidance. Compromise is when “each person gives up something for the sake of agreement” (Porter, ρ.4). Again, this method does not produce the best results as it fails to address the entire issue and can force certain members of a team to concede points that would be

As of today, China has expanded and built over seven artificial islands in the South China Sea since 2014. The South China Sea has recently come to be a major problem in Asia as issues have risen over who has rights of passage and claims in this area. The Chinese of recent have been making territorial claims in the South China Sea that are in areas of free passage for many other Asian countries and the United States. In October 2015, a U.S. guided missile destroyer encountered one of the artificial islands and China’s response was that it would “take any measure” to maintain its security in “their territory”. The Chinese have been questioned in the Permanent Court of Arbitration by the Philippines after claiming rights to historical locations in the South China Sea, which violates sovereign rights of the Philippines, yet China responded to this outcome with refusal and has continued to advance itself in the territory causing huge disputes with its neighboring countries as freedom of navigation has been compromised through China’s actions.. In order to guarantee resolution and maintain the freedom of navigation aspect of international law there needs to be a foreign policy put in place that puts more United States military in the South China Sea with support from disputing countries like Japan and the Philippines as a way to make the issue multilateral and law abiding.

In July 2013, Wenweipo - the pro-PRC Chinese-language newspaper published an article titled “Six Wars China is sure to fight in the next 50 years”. According to this article, after unification of Taiwan (year 2020 to 2025), China will take the second war: Reconquest of Spratly Islands (year 2025 to 2030) and “China will send the ultimatum to countries surrounding the Islands with the deadline of 2028. The countries having disputes on the sovereignty of Islands can negotiate with China on preserving their shares of investments in these Islands by giving up”. In 1999, two Chinese military colonels – authors of the book namely “Unlimited War” suggested using an “unlimited war” to solve the disputing in the South China Sea. These authors said that, to avoid a war does not mean that not using military force and a conflict is indispensable. However, there is one more important thing that to control the intensities of conflict that. It is necessary to conduct some special activities to prove the sovereignty of China in the disputing Spratly Islands but do not let this activities increase to the total war. These things prove that the potential war between Vietnam and China in the future could be come true.

From an international relations perspective, the Taiwan Strait, one of the most likely conflict zones in the Asia-Pacific region, has been dubbed the “Balkan Peninsula of the East.” The status of Taiwan has been one of the most intricate issues in international relations arena for the past decades. The Taiwan question is essentially an extension of the “two Chinas” problem, which creates a dilemma for accommodating

An enduring dispute over Dokdo Island has proven difficult to resolve. Japan and Korea have been having an argument over the island for sovereignty ever since 1910 (South). This island has three names, Dokdo, Takeshima, and Liancourt. Dokdo, a solitary island, is a Korean name for this island. Takeshima, a Bamboo Island, is what Japanese call it. Both Japan and South Korea uses historical facts to support their claims for the island (Profile). To what extent is the dispute between Korea and Japan an issue about resources versus history?

The territorial and maritime disputes over the South China Sea (SCS) have been ongoing for decades. The disputes have been considered to be one the fiercest-contested in Asia. The South China Sea is an enclosed sea surrounded by several different states. China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Brunei, Taiwan, and Malaysia all surrounded the South China Sea. The main cause of tension in this dispute is because China claims to have “historical sovereignty” over all of the South China Sea. Associations of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have come up with different discussions and suggestions on how to end the disputes with favorable conditions for all contending states. They use the principles of the United Nation Convention of the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) and form the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea (DOC). The states surrounding the South China Sea possess 12 nautical miles territorial sea and 200 nautical miles exclusive economic zones (EEZs). Thus, the South China Sea is not only international waters, instead, it is also overlapping exclusive economic zones. According to UNCLOS, disputes over exclusive economic zones must be resolved through negotiations by the contending states. Many of these contending Southeast Asian states have negotiated their maritime boundaries, however, China fails to comply. China claims that it owns all of the South China Sea, and therefore, has no need to

In order to better understand the dispute of these islands and this body of water, geography plays a role considering the area sea is located to borders on many different regions. According Chmillier-Gendreau (2000), the south-west of the Indian Ocean, the sea connects with the Straits of Malacca and Singapore. To the north-east, the sea connects with the Sea of Japan and the Strait of Korea. The position of this body of water is interconnected with many other bodies of waters which coincide with many countries. The islands residing in the middle of this sea therefore lies in the middle of many different countries. The two islands, Spratly and Paracel Islands lie in the middle of the maritime zone. Since it is in the middle, no neighboring country is really physically connected to these islands by geography (Chemillier-Gendreau, 2000, p. 16). Despite that fact, China and Vietnam both claim sovereignty over these islands based on historical and