US defense secretary threatens China over territorial dispute with Japan
6 April 2014, 09:28 -- US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel on Sunday warned China against unilateral action to resolve a territorial dispute with Japan or other Asian countries, drawing a parallel with the situation in Ukraine. Hagel reiterated that Washington stood by its mutual defense treaty with Japan, saying it applied to the disputed East China Sea islands over which Beijing and Tokyo are locked in a bitter argument. The Pentagon chief called for 'a peaceful resolution' to the disagreement saying: 'America has no stronger ally or better friend in this region than Japan'.
'All nations deserve respect, no matter how large or how small,' Hagel said during a visit to Tokyo.
'I think we're seeing some clear evidence of a lack of respect, and coercion and intimidation with ... what the Russians have done in Ukraine,' he told a joint news conference with his Japanese counterpart, Itsunori Onodera.
Countries had to speak up and clearly reject such a blatant violation of international law, said Hagel.
'You cannot go around and redefine boundaries, violate territorial integrity and sovereignty of nations by force, coercion and intimidation whether it's in small islands in the Pacific, or large nations in Europe,' Hagel said.
'So I want to talk to our Chinese friends about this,' said the defense secretary, who departs for Beijing on Monday.
Hagel's blunt remarks came as he reaffirmed Washington's military alliance with Tokyo and announced the deployment of two more ballistic missile defense ships to Japan, AFP reports.
The ships were being sent to help counter the threat posed by North Korea, Hagel said, but the move also carried symbolic weight amid Japan's tense stand-off with China over islets in the East China Sea.
'We take seriously America's treaty commitments, and we strongly oppose any unilateral coercive action that seeks to undermine Japan's administrative control,' Hagel said.
Tokyo scrambled military aircraft last month after three Chinese planes flew close to Japanese airspace, the latest confrontation in the row over islets in the East China Sea.
The islands are administered by Japan, which calls them the Senkaku Islands, but which China refers to as the Diaoyu Islands.
Chinese government ships and planes have been seen off the disputed islands numerous times since Japan nationalized them in September 2012, sometimes within the 12-nautical-mile territorial zone.
US threatens China with Russia-like sanctions over territorial disputes
The US has issued a strong warning to China not to escalate territorial tensions in the Asia-Pacific region, otherwise it would face sanctions similar to those the US has imposed on Russia over Crimea.
While speaking to a meeting of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the US assistant secretary of state for East Asia, Daniel Russel, said that the recent sanctions against Russia imposed by the US and EU should have 'a chilling effect on anyone in China who might contemplate the Crimea annexation as a model,' Reuters reports.
In response, the Chinese Foreign Ministry accused Russel of confusing two different issues and reiterated that the Chinese stance on the matter would remain unchanged.
This diplomatic fencing match was precipitated by China's had recent deployment of a number of war ships in the disputed waters with the Philippines, which in turn filed a complaint against China.
Russel commented that the US considered this 'to be intimidating steps.' He noted that though the US had no intention of interfering in China's territorial disputes, it couldn't but caution China against making any wrong moves, especially taking into account US defense cooperation agreements with the Philippines, South Korea and Japan.
'The president of the United States and the Obama administration is firmly committed to honoring our defense commitments to our allies,' Russel stated, although he did not specify in what way the US would 'honor' those commitments.
If this means imposing sanctions similar to those imposed on Russia over Crimea, it is unlikely to have any effect on China, just the way it had no effect on Russia's firm position on Crimea.
April 22, President Obama's official tour of Japan, South Korea, Malaysia and the Philippines begins. He is supposed to reassure these countries of America's support for strategic and economic partnerships in the Asia-Pacific region.
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