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US pledges help for Japan with 'unprecedented' Chinese incursions
TOKYO – The U.S. is fully committed to help Tokyo handle China's repeated incursions into waters surrounding the Senkaku Islands, the commander of American forces in Japan said Wednesday.
"The United States is 100% absolutely steadfast in its commitment to help the government of Japan with the situation," Lt. Gen. Kevin Schneider said in an online news conference. "That's 365 days a year, 24 hours a day, seven days a week."
Chinese government vessels have sailed into the contiguous zone of the Japanese-administered Senkakus an East China Sea island chain that Beijing claims as the Diaoyu for more than 100 straight days. Schneider called the situation "unprecedented." Chinese ships usually "would go in and out a couple of times a month, and now we are seeing them basically park and truly challenge Japan's administration," he said.
"The duration of the incursions is beyond anything that we've seen in a long, long time," he said. The first explicit U.S. commitment to help address the situation comes on the heels of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's declaration this month that China does not have a legal basis to the "nine-dash line" in the South China Sea – referring to the country's basis for marking off its territory.
The U.S. has stepped up its campaign against China's claims in Asian waters. Australia joined the U.S. on Tuesday in rejecting China’s expansive maritime claims in the resource-rich South China Sea, following a "two-plus-two" dialogue between their defense and foreign ministers. Schneider urged multilateral cooperation to curb Beijing's expansion in the East and South China seas. He said the maritime activity was not a U.S.-China dispute, but rather a matter of China against the world.
Regarding Japan's decision to suspend its deployment of the U.S.-developed Aegis Ashore missile shield, Schneider stressed that Washington will continue working closely with Tokyo regardless of what it decides or what equipment it purchases.
https://asia.nikkei.com/Politics/International-relations/US-pledges-help-for-Japan-with-unprecedented-Chinese-incursions