China warns US as Mattis says will back Japan over disputed isles

THE US is putting regional stability in East Asia at risk, a Chinese spokesman said Saturday following remarks by President Donald Trump’s defence secretary that a US commitment to defend Japanese territory applies to an island group that China claims.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang on Saturday called on the US to avoid discussion of the issue and reasserted China’s claim of sovereignty over the tiny uninhabited islands, known in Japanese as the Senkaku and Chinese as Diaoyu.

“We urge the US 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,” Lu said.

On his first trip to Asia as secretary of defence, Mattis explicitly stated in Tokyo that the Trump administration will stick to the previous US stance that the Us-japan security treaty applies to defending Japan’s continued administration of the Senkaku islands.

The islands that lie between Taiwan and Okinawa were under US control from the end of World War II until their return to Japan in 1972. China cites historical records for its claim.

China tells US not to use Dalai Lama

Meanwhile, a senior Chinese official in charge of Tibet affairs told The Global Times that the US should stop using the Dalai Lama to create trouble for China.

It would bring no benefit to the US but damage Sino-us ties instead, The Global Times reported late Friday, citing Zhu Weiqun, head of the ethnic and religious affairs committee of the top advisory body to China’s parliament.

In response to recent written questions from the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson gave an affirmative answer when asked if he would commit to receiving and meeting the Dalai Lama.