By Ankit Panda
U.S. President Barack Obama, for the first time, took a side on the Senkaku/Diaoyu dispute, backing Japan.
U.S. President Barack Obama opened his four-country Asia tour with a first stop in Tokyo. In his first visit to Japan in three years, Obama focused heavily on reassuring Japan of the United States’ commitment to the U.S.-Japan Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security. The entire trip to Asia will largely focus on reassuring key U.S. allies of the America’s ongoing commitment to Asia as part of its larger strategic “rebalance” to the region.
In an interview ahead of his trip with Japan’s Yomiuri Shimbun, Obama said that the United States regards the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands as falling under the purview of the U.S.-Japan security treaty and that the United States would oppose any attempt to undermine Japan’s control of the islands. “The policy of the United States is clear—the Senkaku Islands are administered by Japan and therefore fall within the scope of Article 5 of the U.S.-Japan Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security. And we oppose any unilateral attempts to undermine Japan’s administration of these islands,” Obama stated in the Yomiuri Shimbun.
Read the full story at The Diplomat