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Security pact covers Tiaoyutas: U.S. State Department

ROC Central News Agency

2010/08/17 14:32:21

Washington, Aug. 16 (CNA) A U.S. Department of State official said Monday that the Japan-U.S. security pact still applies to the Senkaku Islands even if the administration of President Barack Obama has not stated so explicitly.

The Senkaku Islands, known in Chinese as the Tiaoyutais, have been under the administrative control of the government of Japan and are therefore subject to the Japan-U.S. security treaty signed in 1960, Philip Crowley, assistant secretary under the State Department's Bureau of Public Affairs, said at a news briefing.

Taiwan has been one of the countries along with Japan and China that claims sovereignty over the uninhabited island group, a stance that has been a thorn in unofficial bilateral ties between Taiwan and Japan.

The Kyodo News reported recently that the Obama administration has not explicitly stated that the islands are subject to the Japan-U.S. security treaty -- in a shift from the position held by former President George W. Bush.

Washington is believed to have shifted its position to avoid irritating Beijing while trying to secure China's cooperation in helping the U.S. recover from the financial crisis, Kyodo cited a source familiar with the matter as saying Monday.

On whether the Obama administration has shifted Washington's stance on the Senkaku Islands, Crowley said, "We have not changed our position."

The stance of the preceding Bush administration was that the Senkaku Islands have been under Japan's administrative control since having been returned as part of the reversion of Okinawa in 1972; that Article 5 of the 1960 U.S.-Japan Security Treaty applies to the territories under the Japanese administration; and that Article 5 of the pact applies to the Senkaku Islands.

When the Japanese government sought confirmation of the U.S. position on the island in March 2009, the Obama administration repeated the first two formulations but it did not mention directly that the Senkaku Islands are covered under the pact, the Kyodo report said.

(By Zep Hu and Deborah Kuo)

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