Okinotorishima magnified on Google Earth
Everyone knows that China and Japan have issues relating to Japanese imperialism from the first decades of last century. Recently, tensions have come to the surface at the Daihyou (according to the Chinese) or Sendekai (according to the Japanese) islands in light of the Japanese government purchasing the islands from Japanese fisherman, which they claim as territory won during their period of control over China. In a spiraling face-off with only bad outcomes in sight (mostly economic), hundreds of boats from both nations are converging on the uninhabitable islands, but notably, these are not the only physically useless, but geographically important islands they are fighting over.
According to Alicia Wittmeyer at foreignpolicy.com, there is an atoll that China and Japan both are arguing over that is so small (picture above), that Japan has had to spend many millions of dollars physically securing it to ensure the ocean does not swallow it back.
Currently, China is in dispute with the Philippines, Vietnam, Taiwan and Japan over islands/rocks within the seas along its eastern and southern eastern flanks.
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