The aim of this study is to examine alternative explanations for the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands conflict that are not rooted in geopolitical and realpolitikal considerations. It analyzes discursive constructions of the territory and the conflict surrounding the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands in Chinese state-owned online newspapers, with a specific focus on historical, justice and ownership narratives. Applying Goddard’s theory of territorial indivisibility and Calhoun’s theory of nationalism as discourse, the study explores how the state media imbues the territory with symbolic as well as national value and its implications for the conflict. Through a discourse analysis, the study identifies several discourses that draw on history, legal issues as well as perceptions of justice and nationalist ideals to construct the territory. These constructions inform possible positions and actions taken to be by the Chinese state that limit opportunities for peaceful negotiations with Japan. Instead, the territory is embedded within wider domestic nationalist agendas that force the Chinese state to take assertive measures and unable to make concessions in the conflict. Several positionings of both the Chinese state and Japan are discussed throughout the analysis, including victimization, aggressor and defender that present the limited bargaining space of China surrounding the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands conflict, providing possible explanations for the longitude of this territorial dispute.