Obama calls for peaceful end to island dispute

Obama calls for peaceful end to island dispute

by Rubel Hossain Bhuiyan from Comilla University

President Barack Obama, left, and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe shake hands as they arrive to participate in a bilateral meeting at the Akasaka State Guest House in Tokyo, Thursday, April 24, 2014. Facing fresh questions about his commitment to Asia, Obama will seek to convince Japan's leaders Thursday that he can deliver on his security and economic pledges, even as the crisis in Ukraine demands U.S. attention and resources elsewhere. (AP Photo)

Agencies, TOKYO: President Barack Obama says he wants to see a dispute between China and Japan over islands in the East China Sea resolved peacefully. But he is affirming that US treaty obligations to Japan cover all areas under Japan’s administration. He’s referring to the disputed Senkaku islands. China also claims the remote islands. The dispute has badly strained relations between the two Asian powers.


Obama says the islands have historically been administered by Japan and the US does not believe that they should be subject to change unilaterally. Obama said at a press conference with Japan’s prime minister that he wants the maritime issue to be worked out “through dialogue.” He urged them to “keep the rhetoric low.”


“China’s participation in pushing the DPRK (North Korea) in a different direction is critically important,” the president told a joint press briefing with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.


“It is the most destabilising, dangerous situation in all of the Asia-Pacific region.”


Despite his call for China’s help, Obama also underlined US support for Japan, saying that islands at the centre of its bitter territorial dispute with Beijing are covered by a defence treaty that would oblige Washington to act if they were attacked.


“Article five (of the US-Japan security treaty) covers all territories under Japan’s administration including (the) Senkaku islands,” he said, referring to the East China Sea archipelago which Beijing calls the Diaoyus.


“We do not believe that they should be subject to change unilaterally, and what is a consistent part of the alliance is that the treaty covers all territories administered by Japan.”


Obama added that “this is not a new position” and “there’s no red line that’s been drawn”.


“We stand together in calling for disputes in the region, including maritime issues, to be resolved peacefully through dialogue,” he said.


Relations between Tokyo and Beijing are at their lowest point for years. Some observers warn they might come to blows over the islands, where ships from both sides lurk to press claims for ownership.


Abe’s position on historical issues also annoys the Chinese, who accuse him of playing down Japanese atrocities. They are particularly upset by visits he and his cabinet ministers have paid to the Yasukuni Shrine, which honours war criminals among other fallen warriors.


In another sign of history influencing the present, China on Thursday said it had released a Japanese ship seized after its owner paid $28 million compensation in a business dispute dating to Japan’s occupation in the 1930s.


Tokyo warned earlier this week that the seizure could have a chilling effect on the huge trade relationship between China and Japan.


Ministers fear a flood of Chinese compensation claims over wartime wrongs, which they say were all dealt with under the 1972 normalisation of ties.


Japan and other Western-leaning countries say China is also throwing its newfound economic and military weight around in pursuit of territorial claims in the East and South China Seas.


The Independent News , Bangladesh