FAMOUS LAND DISPUTES

8Senkaku (Diaoyu) islands, East China

SeaastChina Sea: depth contours and submarine fenica, Inc.
On the surface, the Senkaku (Chinese: Diaoyu) islands seem to offer very
little to fight over beyond rocks and water. The dispute over these islands,
controlled by Japan and claimed by China, intensified after oil and gas fields
were found underneath. In 2012 the sale of one of the islands by a wealthy
Japanese family to the Japanese government enraged the Chinese
population and led to massive anti-Japanese riots. Considering the growing
power and assertiveness of China in Asia, many experts warn that the tension
over the Senkaku islands could develop into a more serious conflict.

7Kuril Islandsaya Baycredit: Michael V. Propp

The dispute over this volcano-intensive archipelago of 56 islands is the
primary reason Japan and Russia have never signed a peace treaty to
formalize the end of World War II. At the end of the war, the Soviet Union
invaded the Kuril Islands, some of which Imperial Russia had previously
controlled. While the transfer of the islands to the Soviet Union was included
in the Yalta agreements, Japan continued to claim historical rights to the
southernmost islands.

6The Korean peninsula

Lest we forget, the Korean War never really came to an end. South and North
Korea signed an armistice but no peace treaty, and the two countries
continued to face each other in a nerve-racking geopolitical standstill.

5Western Saharasand dune: sand dunes in the ockphoto/Thinkstock

The indigenous inhabitants of Western Sahara, the Saharawis, have fought
for their independence against Morocco since the 1970s. Their organization,
the Polisario Front, has waged an armed insurgency but also shown its
readiness to sit at the negotiation table. In 1991, both parties agreed to a
peace proposal under the auspices of the United Nations. The peace proposal
specified a referendum for the indigenous Saharawi to decide whether they
wanted an independent Western Sahara under Polisario Front leadership or
whether the territory would officially become part of Morocco. Peace,
however, was not yet in the cards, as Morocco moved tens of thousands of
settlers into the territory to influence the referendum results, and Polisario
soldiers resumed their armed campaigns. Still, hope for a peaceful resolution
remained.

4Antarctica
A number of countries, including the United Kingdom, France, and Argentina,
have made claims over the frozen continent of Antarctica, but these claims
have not been recognized by the international community since the signature
of the Antarctica Treaty in 1959. The treaty forbade countries from taking
possession of any part of Antarctica with these solemn words: "in the interest

of all mankind that Antarctica shall continue forever to be used exclusively for
peaceful purposes and shall not become the scene or object of international
discord. Some experts believe the discovery of precious natural resources
could change the equation and revive countries claims to Antarctica. No word
yet on a penguin independence movement.

3Israel/PalestineAFP/Getty Images
Impossible to ignore, the Israel-Palestine conflict is a source of insecurity for
the Middle East and for the world at large.

2Somaliland, Inc.
The modern borders of Africa are in large part the result of the competition
between European colonial powers such as Britain and France for the control
of the continent. During World War II, all the Somali territories were unified
under British military administration, with the exception of French Somaliland.
This process of unification continued after Somalia gained its independence in
1960. At the end of the 1980s, however, the country was shattered by the
beginning of a decades-long civil war, and Somaliland, a region in the north
on the coast of the Gulf of Aden, declared its independence in 1991. The
Republic of Somaliland, however, remained unrecognized by the international
community.

1Taiwan
After the Japanese defeat in World War II, the island of Taiwan reverted to
China. The Chinese government itself, however, was soon overthrown on the
mainland by the Peoples Liberation Army of Mao Zedong, and the new
communist state took the name the Peoples Republic of China. The
nationalist government of Chiang Kai-shek went into exile on the island, which
it continued to rule as the Republic of China (ROC). While the Peoples
Republic of China claims sovereignty over the rogue province of Taiwan, the
ROC still regards itself as the legitimate government of China on both sides of
the Taiwan Strait.