The United States and China in Power Transition - Strategic Studies ...

and the handover of those islands to Japan in
1972. China charges that the U.S. policy was
an ill-willed act toward China and a brute illtreatment
of China’s territorial integrity.
• The United States makes no apology for China’s
accusations. But the United States has always
held that it takes no position in the territorial
dispute and insists that the trusteeship and
handover have no bearing on the sovereignty
of those islands. Moreover, the United States
has also made it clear that the dispute should
be resolved peacefully and, if Japan were to be
attacked as a result of this dispute, the United
States would honor its mutual defense treaty
obligation to come to Japan’s defense. This position
cannot be more unequivocal and forceful
from the recent remarks by Secretary of State
Clinton:
Well, first let me say clearly again the Senkakus
fall within the scope of Article 5 of the 1960
U.S.-Japan Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and
Security. This is part of the larger commitment
that the United States has made to Japan’s security.
We consider the Japanese-U.S. alliance
one of the most important alliance partnerships
we have anywhere in the world and we
are committed to our obligations to protect the
Japanese people. 152
• China holds that the Okinawa Trough marks
the end of “China’s underwater continental
shelf,” and the depth of the Okinawa Trough
meets the UNCLOS requirement to be taken as
a break in its extension. 153
• Japan argues that the Okinawa Trough is only
an accidental dent, and the Ryukyu island chain
149