Disputes in East Asia could engage Washington, analyst says

Disputes in East Asia could engage Washington, analyst says

Tue Apr 28, 2015 8:16PM

“Potential” clashes over maritime and territorial issues in East Asia “could drag the United States in”, says a senior analyst at Foreign Policy in Focus.
US President Barack Obama spoke of “commitment to Japan’s security” against China "flexing its muscles" at a joint news conference with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in the White House Rose Garden on Tuesday.
“Japan is becoming somewhat resurgent and we have a China that’s sort of quite obdurate about its territorial and maritime claims,” Ian Williams told Press TV in a phone interview.

Disputed islands known as Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China are seen in the East China Sea. (AFP)

“There’s a lot of potential for a clash there to drag the US in.”
The analyst further said Obama is more inclined to have close ties with the “Orient” rather that Europe, “and of course the economic balance of power in the world has definitively shifted that way.”
Given that Japan overtook China as the largest foreign holder of US Treasurys in mid-April, Abe is in Washington to “see one paymaster to discuss another”, said the New York-based analyst.
The visit is made based on the fact that Tokyo is after “asserting its own policy” in the region as it has “its own interests”.
China has frequently warned the US to be cautious in its words and actions with regard to territorial disputes involving China and its neighbors.
NT/NT