Obama Reassures Japan, Other Allies on China ahead of Visit
TEHRAN (Tasnim) — US President Barack Obama ahead of his visit to Japan said that Washington welcomes China's rise but that engagement with Beijing would not come at the expense of its Asian allies.
Obama's remarks, aimed at reassuring Japan and other allies, set against a robust commentary from China's state news agency Xinhua that also called the United States "myopic", demonstrate the delicate balancing act Obama faces on a week-long Asia tour.
Meanwhile, Chinese state media greeted his imminent arrival in the region with a broadside accusing the United States of wanting to "cage" the emerging superpower.
The four-nation trip that starts in Tokyo later on Wednesday comes at a time of rising tension in the region, and as the United States urges Japan's unpredictable neighbor North Korea not to conduct another nuclear test, Reuters reported.
Obama, who will be making the first full state visit to Japan by a US President since 1996, must assuage worries by Tokyo and other allies that his commitment to their defense in the face of an increasingly assertive China is weak, without hurting vital US ties with Asia's biggest economy.
Noting Beijing and Washington could work together on issues such as North Korea's nuclear program, Obama told the Yomiuri newspaper, in written remarks: "In other words, we welcome the continuing rise of a China that is stable, prosperous and peaceful and plays a responsible role in global affairs."
He added: "And our engagement with China does not and will not come at the expense of Japan or any other ally."
Such assurances are likely to be high on the agenda when Obama meets Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at a symbolic summit on Thursday.
Japan, whose ties with rival China have chilled over the past two years, has been beset by anxiety over the degree to which reality matches rhetoric in Obama's promised "pivot" of US military and diplomatic assets to Asia.
China, for its part, fears the US is pursuing a policy of containment through its network of Asian allies, several of whom have long-standing territorial disputes with Beijing in the East and South China Seas.
Wednesday's Xinhua commentary criticized US policy in the region as "a carefully calculated scheme to cage the rapidly developing Asian giant".
"The United States should reappraise its anachronistic hegemonic alliance system and stop pampering its chums like Japan and the Philippines that have been igniting regional tensions with provocative moves," it said.
