US would side with Japan in clash over Diaoyus, says Pentagon chief
Defence secretary confirms in visit to Tokyo that treaty extends to defending disputed islands
US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis reassured Japanese leaders on Friday that US President Donald Trump is fully committed to defending Japan as a treaty partner.
Mattis, the first member of Trump’s cabinet to visit Japan, also confirmed that Washington’s defence commitment extended to the contested Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea, known as the Diaoyus in China. This was an apparent relief to Tokyo, which has been concerned about the shape of the alliance under Trump.
“I want there to be no misunderstanding during the transition in Washington that we stand firmly, 100 per cent shoulder to shoulder with you and the Japanese people,” Mattis told Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Tokyo.
“I wanted to make certain that Article Five of our mutual defence treaty is understood to be as real to us today as it was a year ago, five years ago and it will be a year and 10 years from now.”
Under Article Five of the treaty between the US and Japan, any attack against either country in the territories under Japan’s administration would be confronted by both countries.
Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida said after his separate meeting with Mattis that the US defence chief also reconfirmed that commitment.
It came one day after Mattis reaffirmed the longstanding US adherence to a defence treaty with South Korea, another firm US ally in Asia, during his meeting with top officials in Seoul.
Chinese analysts said China was alarmed by the mention of the disputed Diaoyu Islands in the talks.
“[The statement that the Diaoyu Islands fall under Article Five] is a signal that the Trump administration would continue Obama’s pivot to Asia strategy, which would be bad news to Beijing,” said Zhou Yongsheng, a professor at the Institute of International Relations at China Foreign Affairs University.
“That could mean that the Trump administration would not only inherit the pivot to Asia [strategy] but would probably upgrade it,” Zhou said. “In that case, China can only stand firm to protect its sovereignty rights, which are the core of its national interests.”
During his state visit to Japan in 2014, president Barack Obama told Abe that the US was duty-bound to come to Japan’s aid in the event of conflict with China over the Senkaku Islands, though Washington would not take sides in the sovereignty dispute.
Washington’s “pivot to Asia” strategy, which was widely seen as an attempt to contain China’s power under Obama’s administration, suffered a setback when Trump pulled the US out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement.
Lu Yaodong of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences said any high-profile mention of defending the Senkaku Islands would further increase tension with Beijing.
“This could be seen as another attempt to hype up the ‘China threat theory’,” Lu said.
“China will definitely be closely watching, and respond if necessary because that is harming China’s core interests.”
Associated Press, Kyodo, Agence France-Presse
