US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton yesterday joined an Asia--Pacific summit where she weighed in on the issue of maritime disputes, which have triggered a serious rift between China and Japan.
Hopes that Asia’s big powers would begin to heal their two-month feud, centered on -resource-rich East China Sea islands, dominated the talks in Vietnam’s capital where the row erupted again on Friday.
The mood roller-coastered, with Japan saying their foreign ministers had made a promising start with an agreement to improve ties, but China then angrily accusing its rival of making false statements over the islands.
Hopes for a formal meeting between Japan’s Prime Minister Naoto Kan and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (溫家寶) evaporated, but the pair made some progress in brief discussions on the East Asia Summit sidelines yesterday, Japan said.
“They will continue making efforts on promoting a strategic, mutually beneficial relationship,” Japan’s deputy chief cabinet secretary Tetsuro Fukuyama told reporters.
“They also said that they will have an opportunity to talk longer in future,” he said. “They shared an understanding that it was disappointing the bilateral summit did not take place this time.”
China on Friday also hit out at Clinton’s remarks this week that the islands — known as the -Diaoyutais (釣魚台) in Taiwan, the Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyus in China — fall within the scope of the US-Japan security alliance.
However, Clinton told the summit yesterday that maritime rows should be settled by international law, in defiance of China’s call to handle them directly with its neighbors.
“The United States has a national interest in the freedom of navigation and unimpeded lawful commerce,” she said, repeating a US stand in the presence of Wen. “And when disputes arise over maritime territory, we are committed to resolving them peacefully based on customary international law.”
She also sounded a softer note, saying she was encouraged by China’s steps to enter into discussions with the Southeast Asian bloc on a legally enforceable code of conduct on overlapping claims in the South China Sea.
China’s Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi (楊潔篪) responded by telling Clinton to be “cautious” when discussing the maritime issue, to “respect China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and to not make irresponsible remarks.”
Clinton, however, said she had yielded assurances from Yang on China’s exports of rare earth minerals, which Beijing has been accused of restricting in the aftermath of the row with Japan.
“Foreign Minister Yang clarified that China has no intention of withholding these minerals from the market. He said he wanted to make that very clear,” she said.
Japanese leader Kan sought to play down the diplomatic drama, saying that the current problems between Asia’s top two economies were not “so critical” compared to the turbulence that has marked their long history.
The US proposed hosting a three-way ministerial meeting to broach troublesome issues, but officials said that the diplomatic temperature would first need to subside.
The US and Russia were formally invited to join the 16 members of the East Asia Summit yesterday, in what analysts say is a blow to Chinese attempts to diminish US influence in the region.
RISK REMAINS: An official said that with the US presidential elections so close, it is unclear if China would hold war games or keep its reaction to angry words The Ministry of National Defense said it was “on alert” as it detected a Chinese aircraft carrier group to Taiwan’s south yesterday amid concerns in Taiwan about the possibility of a new round of Chinese war games. The ministry said in a statement that a Chinese navy group led by the carrier Liaoning had entered waters near the Bashi Channel, which connects the South China Sea and the Pacific Ocean and separates Taiwan from the Philippines. It said the carrier group was expected to enter the Western Pacific. The military is keeping a close watch on developments and “exercising an
FIVE-YEAR WINDOW? A defense institute CEO said a timeline for a potential Chinese invasion was based on expected ‘tough measures’ when Xi Jinping seeks a new term Most Taiwanese are willing to defend the nation against a Chinese attack, but the majority believe Beijing is unlikely to invade within the next five years, a poll showed yesterday. The poll carried out last month was commissioned by the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, a Taipei-based think tank, and released ahead of Double Ten National Day today, when President William Lai (賴清德) is to deliver a speech. China maintains a near-daily military presence around Taiwan and has held three rounds of war games in the past two years. CIA Director William Burns last year said that Chinese President Xi Jinping
RESILIENCE: Once the system is operational, there would be no need to worry about the risks posed by disasters or other emergencies on communication systems, an official said Taiwan would have 24-hour access to low Earth orbit satellites by the end of this month through service provided by Eutelsat OneWeb as part of the nation’s effort to enhance signal resilience, a Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信) official said yesterday. Earlier this year the Ministry of Digital Affairs, which partnered with Chunghwa Telecom on a two-year project to boost signal resilience throughout the nation, said it reached a milestone when it made contact with OneWeb’s satellites half of the time. It expects to have the capability to maintain constant contact with the satellites and have nationwide coverage by the end
REACTION TO LAI: A former US official said William Lai took a step toward stability with his National Day speech and the question was how Beijing would respond US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday warned China against taking any “provocative” action on Taiwan after Beijing’s reaction to President William Lai’s (賴清德) speech on Double Ten National Day on Thursday. Blinken, speaking in Laos after an ASEAN East Asia Summit, called the speech by Lai, in which he vowed to “resist annexation,” a “regular exercise.” “China should not use it in any fashion as a pretext for provocative actions,” Blinken told reporters. “On the contrary, we want to reinforce — and many other countries want to reinforce — the imperative of preserving the status quo, and neither party taking any
RSS