Dispute Settlement

Territory - Diaoyu Islands

An FM spokesman rebuffed an American offer to mediate between China and Japan over the Diaoyu Islands dispute and criticised the US position that the US-Japan security treaty applies to Diaoyu, calling it "very wrong". While the US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton later said the US offer still stands, the US might as well pretend at least to be a neutral third party not committed to use force to defend Japan's occupation of the islands.