Text Fwd: Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands: Pentagon Ready To Back Japan Against China 센카쿠/다이오유 군도: 미 국방부, 일본을 중국에 맞서게 지지할 준비

* Image source: Mainichi Daily News
'Defense Secretary Robert Gates, second from right, and Japan's Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa, far left,
sit for a meeting in Hanoi, Vietnam, Monday, Oct. 11, 2010.
(AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, Pool)'

_________________________________________________________
StopNATO
Mainichi Daily News
Kyodo News
October 11, 2010
Japan, U.S. affirm cooperation on disputed Senkaku Islands

_________________________________________________________

-During their talks, [Japanese Defense Minister Toshimi] Kitazawa told Gates
that Japan is grateful the United States has stated that the Senkaku Islands in
the East China Sea are covered by the Japan-U.S. security pact....Kitazawa was
referring to Sept. 23 remarks by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton who
told Japanese Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara that the disputed isles
administered by Japan, but claimed by China, are subject to Article 5 of the
bilateral security treaty, which allows for Washington to retaliate against a
military strike on Japanese territory.
_________________________________________________________

HANOI: Japanese and U.S. defense chiefs agreed in their talks Monday that their
countries will jointly respond in line with a bilateral security pact toward
stability in areas in the East China Sea covering the Senkaku Islands that came
into the spotlight in disputes between Japan and China, according to Japanese
officials.

The officials said Japanese Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa his U.S.
counterpart Robert Gates also affirmed the need for strengthening collaboration
with countries in the region over the situation in the East China Sea.

Kitazawa reaffirmed with Gates the policy to implement an accord reached in May
to transfer the U.S. Marine Corps' Futenma Air Station within Okinawa and told
him of the Japanese Defense Ministry's proactive stance toward reviewing the
country's policy of banning arms exports, the officials said.

Kitazawa, an advocate of reviewing the policy, said earlier that the arms export
ban has prevented Japan's defense industry from participating in joint
international technological development, potentially putting it at a
disadvantage in the race for defense business.

During their talks, Kitazawa told Gates that Japan is grateful the United States
has stated that the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea are covered by the
Japan-U.S. security pact, the officials said.

Kitazawa was referring to Sept. 23 remarks by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton who told Japanese Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara that the disputed isles
administered by Japan, but claimed by China, are subject to Article 5 of the
bilateral security treaty, which allows for Washington to retaliate against a
military strike on Japanese territory.

Gates indicated that the United States and Japan will work together in this
area, the officials said.

Touching on China's growing military presence in waters around Japan and the
Pacific, Gates also noted the importance for the two countries to strengthen
collaboration with countries in the region, according to the officials.

He may have been referring to Vietnam and other countries which are increasingly
getting anxious about China over territorial disputes concerning the Spratly
Islands and the Paracel Islands in the South China Sea.

On the Futenma issue, Kitazawa was quoted as saying, "It's important to win the
understanding of Okinawan people and reduce burdens on them to realize the
relocation." Gates stressed the need to steadily implement the relocation and
the transfer of Marines to Guam, the officials said.

Bilateral ties between Japan and China had chilled following Sept. 7 collisions
between a Chinese trawler and two Japanese Coast Guard patrol boats near the
disputed islands.

Kitazawa and Gates met on the sidelines of a gathering of defense ministers from
the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in the Vietnamese capital.
===========================
Stop NATO
Blog site

_________________________________________________________

* For the counter research of the content against the Mainichi article above, you may refer to:

Peace Philosophy Center blog(click)
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Did Clinton really say ANPO applies to Senkaku?
「クリントンが『尖閣は安保５条の適用対象』と言った」というのは前原外相が言っているだけでどこにも証拠がない
(English-language readers - this is about Japan's Foreign Minister Maehara's possible misrepresentation of Hilary Clinton from their talk in New York on September 23, 2010.)