More than ever, islands — and the resources beneath them — are the focus of geopolitical tensions between nations around the world.
The biggest disputes range from the Arctic to Croatia to north of Samoa, and some of the competing claims were made centuries ago.
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Hans Island
Claims by Canada and Denmark
Canada and Denmark are currently going back and forth over who owns a small island in the Kennedy Channel, which separates Canada's Ellsmere Island from Greenland.
The dispute dates back to the 1980s when the Canadians and the Danes waged the "Battle of the Bottles," during which the Canadian and Danish navies would visit the island and leave bottles of Canadian Club whisky and Akvavit, a Scandinavian liquor, to mark their territory.
Things ramped up in the early 2000s when a Danish fleet descended on the island and planted a flag in the ground, a move that irked the Canadians. In July 2005, the Canadians responded with "Exercise Frozen Beaver," during which they erected a 12-foot flag.
Tensions settled shortly thereafter when the two governments released a joint statement saying "all contact by either side with Hans Island will be carried out in a low key and restrained manner."
Denmark and Canada are still trying to reach a mutual agreement regarding Hans Island.
Senkaku (Japan)/Diaoyu (China) Islands
Claims by Japan, China, and Taiwan
The Japanese government has been in control of Senkaku since it formally annexed the islands in 1895, excluding 1945 to 1972 when they were under US occupation authority, but China claims discovery and control of the islands since the 14th century.
The islands are uninhabited (one is used by the US military for drills) but are surrounded by rich fishing grounds.
In 2010 a Chinese fishing boat and a Japanese coast guard vessel collided near the islands, setting off a serious diplomatic spat in which Beijing temporarily froze trade and ministerial talks.
Since then the island has been at the center of rising tensions between the two Asian superpowers, with each releasing formal documents staking their claims last November.
Earlier this month the New York Times reported that Japan had scrambled its jets 943 times in a 12-month period between March 2014 and March 2015, rivaling Cold War levels. A majority of those scrambles were targeted at Chinese aircraft in the vicinity of the disputed islands.
On April 22, The New York Times reported that China’s president, Xi Jinping, and Japan’s prime minister, Shinzo Abe, met in Indonesia during a gathering of Asian and African nations. The meeting lasted about 30 minutes and while the issue of the islands was likely not broached, the meeting could help open a dialogue for the future.
Paracel Islands
Claims by China, Taiwan and Vietnam
The Paracel islands are a group of over 30 islets, sandbanks, and reefs that sit equidistant to China and Vietnam. They are inhabited by turtles as well as a small number of Chinese troops.
One of several disputes in the South China Sea, parts of the Paracel Islands were controlled by China and South Vietnam before tensions boiled over in 1974 and a conflict resulted in 71 soldiers being killed.
China has controlled all of the islands since then but Vietnam disputes the claim.
IHS Jane's Defense Weekly confirmed reports on April 16 that China is also building a military airstrip on the Paracel Islands to go along with the one it has built further south on the Spratly Islands. These developments have angered the United States and alarmed China's neighbors.
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