19 jan 2013
BEIJING: China sent ships around the Japan-controlled Diaoyu islands on Saturday, in response to a veiled US warning to not create problems. Three Chinese surveillance vessels sailed around the islands in the East China Sea, which Beijing claims as its own, for nearly five hours on Saturday.
China is upset with a statement by United States secretary of state Hillary Clinton, who said on Friday that her government was opposed to "any unilateral actions" to undermine Japanese authority over the islands.
The Chinese action comes amid new Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's South East Asia tour. Beijing views this as an attempt to build up anti-China sentiment in ASEAN, which includes countries like Vietnam and Philippines who have territorial disputes with China in the region. The situation around the disputed island is getting hot since last week when both China and Japan sent fighter jets as show of strength.
The official Xinhua news agency on Saturday criticized the US position, saying it "cast doubts on (US) credibility as a responsible power in the region". "It was unwise for Washington to throw support behind Japan in Tokyo's islands dispute with Beijing," Xinhua said.
"This unbalanced position has betrayed its declared intention to stay neutral," it said. The US proposal for "tighter military alliance with Japan will only encourage Tokyo's dangerously right-leaning tendency", the agency said.
Speaking at a joint news conference on Friday with Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida in Washington, Clinton said, "We do not want to see any action taken by anyone that could raise tensions or result in miscalculation that would undermine the peace, security and economic growth in the region".
BEIJING: China sent ships around the Japan-controlled Diaoyu islands on Saturday, in response to a veiled US warning to not create problems. Three Chinese surveillance vessels sailed around the islands in the East China Sea, which Beijing claims as its own, for nearly five hours on Saturday.
China is upset with a statement by United States secretary of state Hillary Clinton, who said on Friday that her government was opposed to "any unilateral actions" to undermine Japanese authority over the islands.
The Chinese action comes amid new Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's South East Asia tour. Beijing views this as an attempt to build up anti-China sentiment in ASEAN, which includes countries like Vietnam and Philippines who have territorial disputes with China in the region. The situation around the disputed island is getting hot since last week when both China and Japan sent fighter jets as show of strength.
The official Xinhua news agency on Saturday criticized the US position, saying it "cast doubts on (US) credibility as a responsible power in the region". "It was unwise for Washington to throw support behind Japan in Tokyo's islands dispute with Beijing," Xinhua said.
"This unbalanced position has betrayed its declared intention to stay neutral," it said. The US proposal for "tighter military alliance with Japan will only encourage Tokyo's dangerously right-leaning tendency", the agency said.
Speaking at a joint news conference on Friday with Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida in Washington, Clinton said, "We do not want to see any action taken by anyone that could raise tensions or result in miscalculation that would undermine the peace, security and economic growth in the region".
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