Japan canceled a plan to set up a weather station on the Senkaku Islands in 1971, apparently under U.S. pressure as the two sides negotiated the 1972 return of Okinawa to Japan, declassified U.S. diplomatic documents show.
When the United States returned the China-claimed islets to Japan along with Okinawa, it wanted to avoid taking a position on the sovereignty issue, the documents indicate.
According to a cable from the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo to Washington dated Jan. 11, 1971, Japan notified the U.S. of a plan to build a weather station in the Senkakus with a view toward future use as an oil exploration base.