The United States rejected a proposal by Japan in March 1972 to have an American aircraft fly over the Senkaku Islands, whose sovereignty is at the heart of the current tensions with China, for fear it might be accused of being biased toward Japan, declassified U.S. archives showed Monday.
The proposal by a high-ranking Japanese official was made shortly before the reversion of Okinawa and the Senkakus to Japanese control from the United States on May 15, 1972.
The uninhabited islets in the East China Sea are still administrated by Japan. China claims them, and calls them Diaoyu, as does Taiwan, which calls them Tiaoyutai.