US Secretary of State John Kerry on Monday told Japanese leaders that Washington’s treaty commitments to Japan’s security remain “iron-clad” and cover all territories under Tokyo’s administration, including islands in the East China Sea that Taiwan and China also claim.
Kerry renewed the security pledge related to the islets, known as the Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台) in Taiwan and the Senkakus in Japan, at a New York news conference with Japan’s foreign and defense ministers to unveil updated US-Japan defense guidelines on the eve of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s official talks with US President Barack Obama.
“It’s an historic transition in the defense relationship between our two countries,” Kerry said.
Photo: AFP
The new guidelines for defense cooperation reflect Japan’s willingness to take on a more robust international role at a time of growing Chinese power and rising concerns about North Korea.
It follows a Japanese Cabinet resolution last year reinterpreting Japan’s pacifist post-World War II constitution to allow the exercise of the right to “collective self-defense.”
At the news conference, Kerry made it clear that Washington was ready to stick to its treaty obligations to come to Japan’s defense, an effort to reassure Tokyo in its maritime dispute with China.
In a pointed message to Beijing over its increasing assertiveness in the South China Sea as well, Kerry said the US rejects any suggestion that freedom of navigation and overflight “are privileges granted by big states to small ones subject to the whim and fancy of the big state.”
“Our treaty commitments to Japan’s security remains iron-clad and covers all territories under Japan’s administration, including the Senkaku Islands,” he said.
The guidelines allow for global cooperation militarily, ranging from defense against ballistic missiles, cyber and space attacks as well as maritime security.
They also eliminate geographic restrictions that had largely limited joint work to the defense of Japan and the surrounding area, a senior US official said.
“We will be able to do globally what we’ve been able to do in the defense of Japan and regionally,” the official said.
Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Hong Lei (洪磊) said that the security arrangement between the US and Japan should not harm the interests of third parties such as China and ensure regional stability.
“As for the Diaoyu Islands, our position is clear and consistent — they are China’s inherent territory. No matter what anyone says or does, it cannot change the reality that they belong to China,” Hong said in Beijing.
The US government has signed defense cooperation agreements with Japan and the Philippines to boost the deterrence capabilities of countries in the first island chain, a report by the National Security Bureau (NSB) showed. The main countries on the first island chain include the two nations and Taiwan. The bureau is to present the report at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee tomorrow. The US military has deployed Typhon missile systems to Japan’s Yamaguchi Prefecture and Zambales province in the Philippines during their joint military exercises. It has also installed NMESIS anti-ship systems in Japan’s Okinawa
‘WIN-WIN’: The Philippines, and central and eastern European countries are important potential drone cooperation partners, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung said Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) in an interview published yesterday confirmed that there are joint ventures between Taiwan and Poland in the drone industry. Lin made the remark in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper). The government-backed Taiwan Excellence Drone International Business Opportunities Alliance and the Polish Chamber of Unmanned Systems on Wednesday last week signed a memorandum of understanding in Poland to develop a “non-China” supply chain for drones and work together on key technologies. Asked if Taiwan prioritized Poland among central and eastern European countries in drone collaboration, Lin
TRAGEDY STRIKES TAIPEI: The suspect died after falling off a building after he threw smoke grenades into Taipei Main Station and went on a killing spree in Zhongshan A 27-year-old suspect allegedly threw smoke grenades in Taipei Main Station and then proceeded to Zhongshan MRT Station in a random killing spree that resulted in the death of the suspect and two other civilians, and seven injured, including one in critical condition, as of press time last night. The suspect, identified as a man surnamed Chang Wen (張文), allegedly began the attack at Taipei Main Station, the Taipei Fire Department said, adding that it received a report at 5:24pm that smoke grenades had been thrown in the station. One man in his 50s was rushed to hospital after a cardiac arrest
ON ALERT: Taiwan’s partners would issue warnings if China attempted to use Interpol to target Taiwanese, and the global body has mechanisms to prevent it, an official said China has stationed two to four people specializing in Taiwan affairs at its embassies in several democratic countries to monitor and harass Taiwanese, actions that the host nations would not tolerate, National Security Bureau (NSB) Director-General Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) said yesterday. Tsai made the comments at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, which asked him and Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) to report on potential conflicts in the Taiwan Strait and military preparedness. Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) expressed concern that Beijing has posted personnel from China’s Taiwan Affairs Office to its
RSS