Source: VOANews
Japan and the United States will draft a plan to counter any Chinese
military action to seize disputed islands in the East China Sea.
A U.S. defense official in Washington told VOA Wednesday that Japan’s
General Shigeru Iwasaki, the chief of staff of the Japanese Self
Defense Forces Joint Staff, is meeting in Hawaii this week with the
commander of the U.S. Pacific Command, Admiral Samuel Locklear, to
discuss a plan to retake the islands, should China invade.
At the Pentagon, Lieutenant Colonel Cathy Wilkinson confirmed only
that the two are meeting in Hawaii for “regular alliance consultations.”
She added that the Defense Department does not discuss its military
planning efforts and encourages China and Japan to resolve the dispute
over the islands “through peaceful means.”
China’s General Liu Yuan said last week that “if there is any
alternative” to war to solve the dispute, then there is “no need to
resort to the means of extreme violence for a solution.”
China and Japan have a long-running dispute over the tiny,
uninhabited islands, known as the Senkaku in Japan and the Diaoyu in
China. Both countries claim the islands, which Japan controls. They are
surrounded by rich fishing grounds and possibly by energy deposits.
Chinese-Japanese ties sank to their lowest level in years last
September, after Japan bought some of the islands from their private
Japanese landowner. The move sparked days of angry protests in China. It
also damaged trade ties between Asia’s two largest economies.
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