President Barack Obama has said the islands in the East China Sea disputed by Tokyo and Beijing are covered by the US-Japan defence treaty as he sought to use the first day of a trip to Asia to reassure anxious allies in the region.
In an interview with a Japanese newspaper, Mr Obama became the first sitting US president to acknowledge that his country considered the islands – which Japan calls the Senkaku and China the Diaoyu – to be part of the defence alliance between Washington and Tokyo.
His comments were clearly designed to show support for Japan, Washington’s most important ally in the region, but immediately prompted an angry response from China which says the US is trying to encircle it.
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