The US is putting regional stability in East Asia at risk, a Chinese spokesman said yesterday following remarks by US President Donald Trump’s defense secretary that a US commitment to defend Japanese territory applies to an island group that China claims.
Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Lu Kang (陸慷) called on the US to avoid discussion of the issue and reasserted China’s claim of sovereignty over the Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台), known as the Senkakus in Japan. Taiwan also claims the islands.
The 1960 US-Japan treaty is “a product of the Cold War, which should not impair China’s territorial sovereignty and legitimate rights,” Lu was quoted as saying in a statement posted on the ministry’s Web site.
Photo: EPA
“We urge the US 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,” Lu said.
On his first trip to Asia as US secretary of defense, James Mattis said in Tokyo that the Trump administration will stick to the previous US stance that the US-Japan security treaty applies to defending Japan’s continued administration of the Diaoyutai Islands.
The islands, which lie between Taiwan and Okinawa, were under US administration from the end of World War II until their return to Japan in 1972. China cites historical records for its claim, and Japan’s move to nationalize several of the islands in 2012 set off anti-Japanese riots in China and prompted Beijing to dispatch ships and planes to the area around them as a challenge to Japanese control.
China also registered its displeasure with Mattis’ remarks on Friday in South Korea that Trump’s administration is committed to carrying through on a deal the administration of former US president Barack Obama reached with Seoul last year to deploy a high-end US missile defense system to South Korea this year.
The Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, is meant to improve protection of South Korea and Japan — as well as US troops stationed in both countries — against a North Korean missile attack.
Beijing objects to the system because its powerful radar would allow it to peer deep into northeastern China, possibly allowing it to observe Chinese military movements.
At a Friday news conference, Lu said China’s “resolute opposition to the deployment ... remains unchanged and will not change.”
The deployment “will jeopardize security and the strategic interests of regional countries, including China, and undermine the strategic balance in the region,” Lu said.
Chinese officials and academics say they anticipate further turbulence in relations with the US under Trump.
The US president sparked anger among Chinese following his election when he talked on the telephone with President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文).
Trump has also raised concerns with criticism of China’s military buildup in the South China Sea, accusations of currency manipulation and unfair trade policies and allegations that Beijing was doing too little to pressure its neighbor North Korea.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
CHINA REACTS: The patrol and reconnaissance plane ‘transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,’ the 7th Fleet said, while Taipei said it saw nothing unusual The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.” In a separate statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that it monitored nearby waters and airspace as the aircraft
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique