China condemned Ishigaki's actions.On September 11, 2012, the Japanese government nationalized its control over Minami-kojima, Kita-kojima, and Uotsuri islands by purchasing them from the Kurihara family for ¥2.05 billion.In 2014, Japan constructed a lighthouse and wharf featuring Japanese flag insignia on the islets.The island group are known to consist of five uninhabited islets and three barren rocks.These minor features in the East China Sea are located approximately 120 nautical miles northeast of Taiwan, 200 nautical miles east of the Chinese mainland and 200 nautical miles southwest of the Japanese island of Okinawa.According to one visitor, Uotsuri-shima, the largest of the islands, consists of a pair of rocky gray mountains with steep, boulder-strewn slopes rising almost straight from the water's edge. This Navigation is no ways dangereous were you sure of your Latitude and to make Pinnicle Isle". It was only the early 1970s that Chinese documents began to name them collectively as the Diaoyu Islands, and as Chinese territory. Goats have since proliferated and affected the island's vegetation.In 1979 an official delegation from the Japanese government composed of 50 academics, government officials from the Foreign and Transport ministries, officials from the now-defunct Okinawa Development Agency, and Hiroyuki Kurihara, visited the islands and camped on Uotsuri for about four weeks. The depth of the surrounding waters of the continental shelf is approximately 100–150 metres (330–490 ft) except for the ...the Okinawa Trough proves that the continental shelves of China and Japan are not connected, that the Trough serves as the boundary between them, and that the Trough should not be ignored .......the trough is just an incidental depression in a continuous continental margin between the two countries ... [and] the trough should be ignored ....Permission for collecting herbs on three of the islands was recorded in an Imperial Chinese edict of 1893.Uotsuri-shima, the largest island, has a number of endemic species such as the Rich marine biodiversity adjacent to the islands has been recognized but poorly studied. The Resolution titled "When PRC-Japan diplomatic relations were established in 1972, In 2008, a preliminary agreement on joint development of resources was reached but the agreement only includes the area far from these islands.Explanations of the manifold causes of the intensified conflict involving the Senkaku Islands vary.The real importance of the islands lies in the ... implications for the wider context of the two countries' approaches to maritime and island disputes, as well as in the way in which those issues can be used by domestic political groups to further their own objectives. Satoru Sato, Press Secretary, Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs Yamada, Takao. "Sino-Japanese Dispute over the Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands: The Pending Controversy from the Chinese Perspective," Lohmeyer, Martin. The Japanese central government, however, has prohibited Ishigaki from surveying or developing the islands.In 1978, a Japanese political group constructed the first lighthouse on Uotsuri island and grazed two goats. Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Lai Shin-yuan said, "The ROC and Mainland China will not deal with the [Tiaoyutai Islands] disputes together. Senkaku Islands Feb 17, 2015 The Senkaku Islands are an uninhabited group of islands situated in the East China Sea, approximately 90 nautical miles north from the Yaeyama Islands in Japan's Okinawa Prefecture and 120 nautical miles northeast of the island of Taiwan. We insist on our sovereignty. In July 2010, nine Japanese boats fished in the area. Both sides fired water cannons at each other and used LED lights and loudspeakers to announce their respective claims to the islands.Military escalation continued in 2013. Contents: Shun feng xiang song--Zhi nan zheng fa. "Keeping the big picture in sight in Senkaku Islands dispute," Pan, Zhongqi. The Senkaku Islands: Location, Area, and Other Geographical Data.