Kissinger: US Should Not Take Sides in Islands Dispute

   2012-10-09 19:49:51    CRIENGLISH.com      Web Editor: Zhang

Former US Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger, said last week that the Diaoyu Islands dispute should be resolved only by China and Japan, and the United States should not take sides. During a think tank activity in Washington on October 3, Kissinger revealed that the two governments once reached an "agreement" to put aside the territorial dispute over the islets and to reject the US intervention in the issue, according to Radio Australia and the Seoul-based Chosun Ilbo newspaper. A NHK analysis said the "agreement" was proposed by late Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping in 1978 when China and Japan signed a peace and friendship treaty. But Japan has refused to accept the islets as a disputed territory and denied the agreement. Kissinger, who took part in both the handover of Okinawa to Japan and the normalization of Sino-US relations, has long urged the US not to get involved in the Diaoyu Islands issue. A US Congressional report has said Washington has never recognized Japan's sovereignty over the Diaoyu Islands, China Daily reported Tuesday. The report, published on Sept 25 by the Congressional Research Service, said the US recognizes only Japan's administrative power over the islands after the Okinawa Reversion Treaty was signed in 1971. China-Japan relations hit the lowest point in years after Tokyo's so-called purchase of the Diaoyu Islands on Sept 10. The islands have been Chinese territory for centuries.