Dispute over the Diaoyu Islands are heating up recently. Japan’s tough stance on the issue can be attributed to not only domestic political factors but also U.S. involvement in the affairs in Asia Pacific.

After the collision between Chinese and Japanese vessels in waters off the Diaoyu Islands in 2010, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said for the first time that Article 5 of the Japan-US Security Treaty is applicable for the Diaoyu Islands issue. After Japan staged the farce of buying the Diaoyu Islands in July this year, the United States reiterated that the Treaty can be applied to the Islands. The spokesperson of the State Department also reaffirmed the U.S. stance on various occasions after Chinese activists landed on the islands.

The seemingly close Japan-US relations reveal the complex background of recent escalation of the Diaoyu Islands issue. However, it seems that it is just Japan’s unilateral willingness to provoke conflicts and then shelter under the umbrella of the Japan- US Security Treaty on the issue of Diaoyu Islands.

Although the Japan-US Security Treaty is legally binding, the United States has the right to interpret key parts of the Treaty on its own terms. It has never promised to defend Japan over the issue of Diaoyu Islands by force.

The United States does judge whether to execute the Treaty by its own interests. A spokesperson of the U.S. State Department reiterated on Aug. 27 that the United States does not take sides on the sovereign issue of Diaoyu Islands. Comparatively, it is particularly naive and ridiculous of the Japanese government, which was “encouraged” by the remarks of certain U.S. officials, to repeatedly create provocations over the Diaoyu Islands issue.

National interests are not trifles. Sovereignty and territorial integrity concerns a country’s core interests. Any external intervention will not change the fact that the Diaoyu Islands and the affiliated islands are China’s inherent territory. The Chinese government and people will not retreat simply because of a so-called security treaty or remarks of certain politicians. Most importantly, the Chinese people with justice and firm determination will not allow any treaty to become the umbrella of Japan’s infringing on national interests of other countries.

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