日本最早记载钓鱼岛的文献——《琉球国图》

琉球政府《关于尖阁列岛主权》的声明宣称：“《琉球三省并三十六岛之图》所依据的是中国的《中山传信录》，这种资料没有价值。”本文通过考证，认为《琉球三省并三十六岛之图》是《琉球国图》的临摹图，《琉球国图》是日本最早记载钓鱼岛的文献，琉球政府的声明不能成立；甲午战争之前，钓鱼岛并非日本政府所称的“无主地”，更不是琉球群岛的属地，而是台湾的附属岛屿，属于中国的领土。这不仅为中国文献所证明，也为日本和西方的文献所证明。钓鱼岛属于中国，已经是当时国际社会的共识。

The Earliest Japanese Record on the Diaoyu Island-The Map of Ryukyu

In its Statement on the Senkaku Islands Sovereignty, the Ryukyu government claimed that The Map of the Ryukyu including Three Provinces and Thirty-Six Islands did not have much value as it was drawn based upon a Chinese document entitled Zhongshan chuanxinlu. Through textual examination and study, this article argues that what the Ryukyu government claimed is wrong and thus cannot be accepted as the Map concerned was actually copied from another earlier Japanese map entitled The Map of Ryukyu, which is the earliest Japanese record on the Diaoyu Island. In other words, the Diaoyu Island had neither been＂an unclaimed island＂prior to the 1894-1895 Sino-Japanese War as described by the Japanese government, nor was it belonged to the Ryukyu Islands. On the contrary, it had been affiliated to Taiwan for ages and as such indeed it is belonged to China, a historical fact has been acknowledged not only by contemporary Chinese and Western literatures but also by the earliest Japanese record.