China Assails U.S. Pledge to Defend Disputed Islands Controlled by Japan

[TomSea]

China Assails U.S. Pledge to Defend Disputed Islands Controlled by Japan

By JANE PERLEZFEB. 4, 2017


Defense Secretary Jim Mattis reviewed an honor guard before a meeting at the Defense Ministry in Tokyo on Saturday. Credit Franck Robichon/European Pressphoto Agency

BEIJING — China reacted with strong displeasure on Saturday to a promise by Defense Secretary Jim Mattis that the United States would defend two uninhabited islands in the East China Sea that Japan controls but China also claims as its own.

Mr. Mattis, the first member of President Trump’s cabinet to visit East Asia, had told Japanese officials earlier Saturday that America’s defense obligations to Japan extended to the disputed rocky outposts, known in China as the Diaoyu and in Japan as the Senkaku.

The chief spokesman for China’s Foreign Ministry, Lu Kang, accused Mr. Mattis of putting regional stability at risk and urged him to forgo what he called a Cold War mentality.

“We urge the U.S. side to take a responsible attitude, stop making wrong remarks on the issue involving the Diaoyu islands’ sovereignty, and avoid making the issue more complicated and bringing instability to the regional situation,” Mr. Lu said in a statement posted on the ministry’s website.

Continued: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/04/world/asia/china-us-jim-mattis-japan-islands.html?_r=0