The Japanese and U. S. defense chiefs will reaffirm during their meeting this week that the countries\u2019 security pact covers defense of the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea that are administered by Japan and claimed by China, Japanese and U. S. government sources said Sunday.
With concern growing that Washington\u2019s commitment could falter under President Donald Trump, Tokyo and Washington will seek to underline the robustness of the security alliance by confirming the Senkakus fall under Article 5 of the Japan-U. S. security treaty, amid China\u2019s growing maritime assertiveness in the region, the sources said.
The uninhabited islands, which are also claimed by Taiwan, have long been a major source of friction between Japan and China. China and Taiwan call the islands Diaoyu and Tiaoyutai, respectively.
U. S. Defense Secretary James Mattis will meet with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Tokyo on Friday and with Defense Minister Tomomi Inada on Saturday.
Abe is also set to meet with Trump in Washington on Feb. 10, their first meeting since Trump was inaugurated on Jan. 20. The two held unofficial talks in New York last November shortly after Trump won the U. S. presidential election.
In 2014, Barack Obama became the first U. S. president to publicly state that the Senkakus fall under the security treaty.
Mattis is likely to maintain the Obama administration\u2019s stance on China\u2019s military buildup in disputed waters of the South China Sea and to affirm the strengthening of cooperation on ballistic missile defense to address North Korea\u2019s nuclear and missile development, the sources said.
Last Wednesday, Trump\u2019s nominee for secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, also reaffirmed the United States\u2019 commitment to defending Japan.
\u201cWe\u2019ve made a commitment to Japan in terms of a guarantee of their defense,\u201d Tillerson said during his Senate confirmation hearing.
Concern in Japan over ties with the United States has grown since Trump withdrew from the 12-country Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade pact, initiated by his predecessor and championed by Abe, and Trump\u2019s accusation that Japanese trade practices in the automobile sector are \u201cnot fair\u201d to U. S. companies.<\/p>\n