Office of the Historian

851G.014/17

The Japanese Embassy to the Department of State3

undated

1. The Sinnan Islands, situated in the South China Sea between French Indo-China and the Island of Palawan of the Philippine Islands, comprise small coral reefs which lie within the area marked by the line connecting the following points:

12° north latitude and 117° east longitude
9° 30′“ “ “ “ “ “
8° “ “ “ 116° “ “
7° “ “ “ 114° “ “
7° “ “ “ 111°30′ “ “
9° “ “ “ “ “ “
12° “ “ “ 114° “ “
12° “ “ “ 114° “ “

The names of the principal coral reefs of the Sinnan Islands are: Kitahutagozima, Minamihutagozima, Nisiaozima, Sankakuzima (Thi tu Island), Nakakozima (Loai ta Island), Kikkozima, Nanyoto, Nagasima (Itu Aba Island), Kitakozima, Minamikozima, Asukazima, Nisitorisima (Spratly Island) and Marusima (Amboyna Cay).

2. The Sinnan Islands were no State’s land until June, 1921, when [Page 279] the Rasa Phosphate Co., a Japanese concern, having made extensive investigation of the Islands since 1917, invested a considerable amount of money in the building of permanent establishments for the development of the Islands. Their enterprise received the full authorization and support of the Japanese Government, which dispatched a naval surveying ship, Koshu, in 1929. In April of the same year a stone monument was built signifying the Japanese occupation, replacing a wooden marker built in 1919. (A more imposing one was erected in August 1938 with due ceremony conducted by the officers and crew of the minelayer Katsuriki.) In 1931, however, the Japanese settlers concerned were obliged to leave the Islands temporarily on account of business depression, but manifested their intention of returning to the Islands by leaving the establishments as they stood. In fact the work of development on the Islands was resumed in 1936 by the Kaiyo Development Co. of Formosa and has continued to date.

3. During the absence of the Japanese settlers, in July, 1933, the French Government dispatched a warship and publicly proclaimed their acquisition, contending that the Islands had previously belonged to no State, and sent a notification to that effect to the Japanese Government.

Finding itself unable to accept the view of the French Government expressed in the said notification, the Japanese Government, in August of the same year, made friendly representations to the French Government to the effect that the proclamation of acquisition should be withdrawn. Upon refusal on the part of the French Government, the Japanese Government made it clear that they do not in any way recognize the French claim to the Islands, and have taken all necessary measures to ensure the acquisition of the Islands as well as to give protection to the rights and interests therein of the Japanese Government and the Japanese nationals concerned. The cruiser Tatsuta was dispatched to the Islands in 1935 and the minelayer Katsuriki in 1936, 1937 and 1938, and a police officer from the Government-General of Formosa was stationed [there?].

4. In 1937 the French Government, relying solely on the above-mentioned proclamation of acquisition, again claimed the sovereignty of the Islands, and in July of 1938 dispatched to the Islands a merchant vessel, landed some men and materials, and commenced to build establishments. The Japanese Government firmly sustained their refusal to recognize the French contention. At the same time the Japanese authorities on the Islands demanded the withdrawal of the French and objected to the hoisting of the French flag and the landing of goods on the Islands.

5. The Japanese Government, basing their action on the close connection that has existed between the Islands and the Japanese Empire [Page 280] and on the right deriving therefrom under International Law, and motivated by their desire to avoid the possibility of further complications with the French Government, incidental to the hitherto vague administrative status of the Islands, have incorporated the Sinnan Islands in the territory under the jurisdiction of the Government-General of Formosa as of the thirtieth of March 1939.

  1. This undated memorandum was handed to the Chief of the Division of Far Eastern Affairs by the Counselor of the Japanese Embassy on March 31, 1939.↩