Discourse power: sovereignty claims over the Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands

ABSTRACT

This paper examines the discursive construction in the territorial disputes over the Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands between China and Japan. In the 21st century, territorial sovereignty is still a widely acknowledged issue involving national and international security that imposes potential risks of conflict and even war. Based on realist constructivism, which differs from liberal constructivism, the study theorizes discourse power formation, which is jointly determined by power and social construction. Power and ideas are not mutually exclusive: states construct a discourse to express and legitimize power, while ideas and norms shape the ways states establish the morality of power. The findings of this study show that China and Japan use discourse as an instrument to pursue power, and that ideas and norms determine the two countries’ narratives in discursive construction.

KEYWORDS:

• China’s rise
• discourse
• Japan
• power transition
• realist constructivism
• sovereignty
• Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The author thanks the anonymous referees and editor for constructive feedback on earlier drafts of this paper.

DISCLOSURE STATEMENT

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1 In the literature, the islands’ name are ordered either as the Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands or as the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands based on different reasons. The names of the islands are listed here in English alphabetical order.

2 A referee pointed out that this distinction is somewhat arbitrary because all the rhetoric is constructivist. The author agrees that the state uses both realist and constructivist rhetoric to shape discourse. The distinction reflects different characteristics of the rhetoric. The rhetoric that attempts to discredit and attack the opponent is labelled as realist rhetoric, while the one that appeals to morality, which is shaped by international norms and rules, is labelled as constructivist rhetoric.

3 The origins of these ideas, values and norms may vary in different periods of history, which are contingent on the environment of the international society. Certainly, hegemons have a great capacity to shape the dominant culture, but values and norms maintain relative discursive autonomy. Once a particular set of culture prevails, hegemons have to comply with the norms and values widely accepted in global politics, rather than seeking states’ material interests in territorial expansion.

4 Certainly, sovereignty claims over the islands are practically relevant to the two countries’ domestic politics, and both Chinese and Japanese versions of these arguments exist. This study uses the English versions of China and Japan’s arguments, because the two countries’ discursive construction of sovereignty over the islands is internationally oriented. They want to persuade international audiences to accept their narratives and win the support of world public opinion.

5 Emphasis (i.e., italics) in quotations is added by the author for emphasis hereinafter.

6 In the Chinese discourse, there is only one China in the world, and the government of the People's Republic of China (PRC) is the sole legal government of China. The narratives state that the Republic of China (ROC) has been replaced by the PRC; therefore, the territories returned to the ROC should be inherited by the PRC.