Islands at the center of a territorial row between Japan and China are covered by a military protection accord between Washington and Tokyo, US Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel said on Monday.
“The United States does not take a position on the ultimate sovereignty of the islands, but we do recognize they are under the administration of Japan and fall under our security treaty obligations,” Hagel said at a news conference with his Japanese counterpart, Itsunori Onodera.
Hagel’s comments came amid rising tensions over the uninhabited islands known in Japan as the Senkaku Islands, as the Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台) in Taiwan and as the Diaoyu Archipelago (釣魚群島) by China.
On April 23, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe vowed to “expel by force” any Chinese landing on the islands after a flotilla sailed into the disputed waters in the East China Sea.
The Chinese flotilla was the biggest to do so in a single day since Japan nationalized part of the island chain in September last year.
Calling the dispute a key regional security challenge, Hagel said it “must be resolved peacefully and cooperatively between the parties involved.”
Washington “opposes any unilateral or coercive action that seeks to undermine Japan’s administrative control,” he said, in reference to the recent Chinese actions.
“Any actions that could raise tensions or lead to miscalculations affect the stability of the entire region,” he said.
In the talks with Hagel, Onodera said he “explained Japan’s basic position that the islands are clearly an inherent part of the territory of Japan in light of historical facts and based upon international law, and that Japan is determined to protect its land, water and air.”
Turning to North Korea, Hagel said the country’s “provocative behavior” was “the most obvious threat to stability in the region.”
“Minister Onodera and I agree that continued close coordination between US and Japanese forces will be essential for monitoring and responding to any further provocations, particularly cooperation on missile defense,” he said.
Hagel said progress had been made on plans to deploy a second TPY-2 radar to Japan. He confirmed the deployment of a second squadron of MV-22 Osprey aircraft to Japan this summer.
The paramount chief of a volcanic island in Vanuatu yesterday said that he was “very impressed” by a UN court’s declaration that countries must tackle climate change. Vanuatu spearheaded the legal case at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands, which on Wednesday ruled that countries have a duty to protect against the threat of a warming planet. “I’m very impressed,” George Bumseng, the top chief of the Pacific archipelago’s island of Ambrym, told reporters in the capital, Port Vila. “We have been waiting for this decision for a long time because we have been victims of this climate change for
MASSIVE LOSS: If the next recall votes also fail, it would signal that the administration of President William Lai would continue to face strong resistance within the legislature The results of recall votes yesterday dealt a blow to the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) efforts to overturn the opposition-controlled legislature, as all 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers survived the recall bids. Backed by President William Lai’s (賴清德) DPP, civic groups led the recall drive, seeking to remove 31 out of 39 KMT lawmakers from the 113-seat legislature, in which the KMT and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) together hold a majority with 62 seats, while the DPP holds 51 seats. The scale of the recall elections was unprecedented, with another seven KMT lawmakers facing similar votes on Aug. 23. For a
Taiwan must invest in artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics to keep abreast of the next technological leap toward automation, Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) said at the luanch ceremony of Taiwan AI and Robots Alliance yesterday. The world is on the cusp of a new industrial revolution centered on AI and robotics, which would likely lead to a thorough transformation of human society, she told an event marking the establishment of a national AI and robotics alliance in Taipei. The arrival of the next industrial revolution could be a matter of years, she said. The pace of automation in the global economy can
All 24 lawmakers of the main opposition Chinese Nationalists Party (KMT) on Saturday survived historical nationwide recall elections, ensuring that the KMT along with Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) lawmakers will maintain opposition control of the legislature. Recall votes against all 24 KMT lawmakers as well as Hsinchu Mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) and KMT legislative caucus whip Fu Kun-chi (傅崐萁) failed to pass, according to Central Election Commission (CEC) figures. In only six of the 24 recall votes did the ballots cast in favor of the recall even meet the threshold of 25 percent of eligible voters needed for the recall to pass,
RSS