About the 1900s and there abouts . . .

In 1905, Czar Nicholas sent his Russian naval fleet to Japan. It was a very long sea voyage. Finally it coasted into Japanese waters. It was all ready to whack the Japanese.  
Off Tsushima, they fought it out. The Russian fleet was utterly defeated.

This bespeaks to how advanced Japan was in its equivalency to Western military power and technology. It was to reach its acme when she took on the U.S. Pacific fleet in 1940 and whacked it.

And China's naval fleet at the time of Tsushima, consisted of a beautiful sculptored stone boat that adorned the lake of the gardens of the Summer Palace in Peking.

It was by its naval power that Japan occupied an arc of islands from latitude 45 North to 25 North of the the litoral east side of the Asian continent. One result is that today Japan has one of the islands that is only 134 east of Taiwan. Even the Falkland islands are further from the coast of Argentina; and Argentina is claiming that she owns the Falklands.

Today, the situation has changed. Thus:

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/photo/2013-08/17/c_132638929.htm

In time will there be consequences? 

Well there are already differences over certain islands. These islands are in the litoral zone of the most powerful east Asian nation. However the Japanese claim them.