China says no to US Diaoyu talks offer
Source: Agencies/Shanghai Daily |
November 3, 2010, Wednesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
CHINA yesterday rejected a United States offer to broker three-way talks with Japan over the Diaoyu Islands in the East China Sea.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who met Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi in Hanoi last week, urged calm on both sides and offered to host trilateral talks to bring relations back on an even keel.
The Diaoyu Islands are Chinese territory, and the dispute between China and Japan over them remains an issue for China and Japan alone to deal with, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said in a statement.
"The US side has suggested official talks between the United States, China and Japan. I want to stress this is only a US idea," Ma said.
"It is absolutely wrong for the United States to repeatedly claim the Diaoyu Islands fall within the scope of the US-Japan Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security. What the United States should do is to immediately correct its wrong position," Ma said.
After meeting with Japanese Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara in Hawaii last Thursday, Clinton claimed the Diaoyu Islands issue could invoke the US-Japan security treaty.
The Chinese government was extremely unhappy with her statement.
Ma said last Friday that as a bilateral agreement reached during the Cold War, the US-Japan security treaty should not harm the interests of third parties, including China.
Also yesterday, Clinton told reporters that Japan and China need to discuss their differences. "The offer that I made to host a trilateral with both Japan and China that would facilitate dialogue stands," Clinton said at a news conference with Malaysian Foreign Minister Anifah Aman in Putrajaya.
Clinton repeated that Washington has no position on which country holds ultimate sovereignty over the islands but that US security obligations to Japan have been consistent for many decades.
Clinton's offer was the second time in four months that Washington has injected itself in a Chinese territorial issue. In July, Clinton said the US had an interest in seeing China peacefully settle claims over the South China Sea with Southeast Asian neighbors.
Sino-Japanese relations plummeted after Japan detained a Chinese fishing boat captain in September when his boat collided with Japanese patrol ships near the Diaoyu Islands.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who met Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi in Hanoi last week, urged calm on both sides and offered to host trilateral talks to bring relations back on an even keel.
The Diaoyu Islands are Chinese territory, and the dispute between China and Japan over them remains an issue for China and Japan alone to deal with, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said in a statement.
"The US side has suggested official talks between the United States, China and Japan. I want to stress this is only a US idea," Ma said.
"It is absolutely wrong for the United States to repeatedly claim the Diaoyu Islands fall within the scope of the US-Japan Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security. What the United States should do is to immediately correct its wrong position," Ma said.
After meeting with Japanese Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara in Hawaii last Thursday, Clinton claimed the Diaoyu Islands issue could invoke the US-Japan security treaty.
The Chinese government was extremely unhappy with her statement.
Ma said last Friday that as a bilateral agreement reached during the Cold War, the US-Japan security treaty should not harm the interests of third parties, including China.
Also yesterday, Clinton told reporters that Japan and China need to discuss their differences. "The offer that I made to host a trilateral with both Japan and China that would facilitate dialogue stands," Clinton said at a news conference with Malaysian Foreign Minister Anifah Aman in Putrajaya.
Clinton repeated that Washington has no position on which country holds ultimate sovereignty over the islands but that US security obligations to Japan have been consistent for many decades.
Clinton's offer was the second time in four months that Washington has injected itself in a Chinese territorial issue. In July, Clinton said the US had an interest in seeing China peacefully settle claims over the South China Sea with Southeast Asian neighbors.
Sino-Japanese relations plummeted after Japan detained a Chinese fishing boat captain in September when his boat collided with Japanese patrol ships near the Diaoyu Islands.
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