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Panetta listens to a question from a US military personnel stationed at the Yokota air base in Tokyo/AFP

Focus on China

Pentagon chief calls for calm in Japan-China spat

“Obviously we stand by our treaty obligations. They are longstanding, and that does not change.”

But he said the United States as a matter of policy does not take a position on the territorial dispute.

Panetta’s week-long Asian tour includes visits to Beijing and Auckland but his schedule originally did not include a stop in Tokyo. The row over the islands likely prompted the change in his itinerary, analysts said.

Japanese Foreign Minister Koichiro Gemba, who met with the former CIA chief earlier in the day, called on Beijing to dial down the temperature on the dispute.

“Anti-Japan demonstrations are spreading on a scale never seen before. Some of them have turned into riots. It is truly regrettable that Japanese businesses have suffered significant damage,” he said.

Reports Monday suggested Japanese firms were curtailing their operations in China after factories there were targeted.

“I will again ask the Chinese government to take appropriate measures. I hope law and order will be respected,” the foreign minister said.

Gemba said he told Panetta that Japan was seeking to keep a lid on the row.

“We have agreed that Japan and the United States will cooperate to ensure that Japan-China relations will not be seriously harmed,” he added.

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An editorial in the People’s Daily – the mouthpiece of the Communist Party – on Monday hinted at possible sanctions on Japan over the dispute.

An editorial in the People’s Daily – the mouthpiece of the Communist Party – on Monday hinted at possible sanctions on Japan over the dispute.

Acknowledging any economic move would be a “double-edged sword” for China, the paper said Japan could suffer for up to 20 years if Beijing chose to make its fourth-largest trading partner suffer.

“Amidst a struggle that touches on territorial sovereignty, if Japan continues its provocations China will inevitably take on the fight,” it said.

Japan is a big investor in China, with two-way trade worth $342.9 billion last year, according to Chinese official data.

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