Chinese officials reacted with disgust when Defense Secretary James Mattis announced Saturday the United States would defend Japan-controlled islands claimed by China and deploy missile defense in South Korea.
Mattis, according to The New York Times, told Japanese officials Saturday morning that the U.S. defense responsibilities of Japan expanded to the debated rocky station posts known as Diaoyu in China and Senkaku in Japan.
Mattis, who made his remarks at a Tokyo news conference, said that China’s territorial declaration to nearly all of its waters “has shredded the trust of nations in the region.” Sec. Mattis discussed Article 5 of the United States-Japan treaty, which obligates the the U.S. defend Japan or its territories that it controls against an attack.
China condemned the statement made by Mattis. The chief spokesman of China’s Foreign Ministry, Lu Kang, said in a statement on its website, “We urge the U.S. side to take a responsible attitude, stop making wrong remarks on the issue involving the Diaoyu islands’ sovereignty, and avoid making the issue more complicated and bringing instability to the regional situation.”
The Times noted the Trump administration did not take up a different position on the issue of China’s aggressive actions in disputed waters than the previous administration, but gave reassurance to Japanese officials as to where the Trump administration stands on defending Japan.
Mattis also traveled to South Korea before going to Japan to give the U.S.-Asian nation ally similar reassurance of the U.S. commitments to its defense, and China responded equally to these assurances as it did later on following Mattis’ speech in Tokyo.
China reacted angrily and threatened South Korea with economic consequences when Mattis announced U.S. plans to deploy a missile defense system in the country to protect the nation from the nuclear threat of North Korea.