[Sumeragi]

Originally Posted by Ithekro

(no idea why they changed it to Okinawa over Formosa. Maybe it had something to do with the shortlived Republic of Formosa that resisted the Japanese for a few months in 1895 after the treaty with China was signed).

It goes back to the basic problem of "Was Senkaku ever part of Qing?." Technically from Japan's point of view, it was never really part of Taiwan and thus was either Terra nullius or an incorporated territory which was fundamentally a part of Ryukyus that should have gone to Japan during the Ryukyu annexation.