CHINA-JAPAN: MARITIME DISPUTES-OBAMA'S STATEMENT
China has reacted sharply to US President Obama's statement that Article 5 of the US-Japan Security Agreement covered the Senkakus (called Diaoyu in Chinese) Islands. China's official news agency 'Xinhua' on April 24 angrily described Obama's statement as "a carefully calculated attempt to cage the rapidly developing Asian giant" and that it "would be premature and simply naive of Tokyo to arrive at a convenient conclusion from misreading the pledge". The Xinhua commentary added "what is extremely dangerous is that Abe and his nationalistic government might be encouraged to challenge China's bottom line in territorial disputes in the belief that Obama's pledge is a shield that gives impunity from all punishments". |