Ex-security officials to try easing tensions

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A group of former national security officials from the United States are expected, in a semi-official visit, to try to defuse tensions between China and Japan over the Diaoyu Islands.

The group, led by former US deputy secretary of state Richard L. Armitage, started the trip on Saturday and will meet Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda on Monday and Chinese senior officials on Tuesday, Japan's Jiji Press News Agency said.

Analysts said the visit may help ease the tensions that have arisen between China and Japan and make it easier for the countries to enter dialogues, adding that the US is expected to "do what it says it would do".

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has endorsed the Armitage visit and given it quasi-official status, the New York Times said.

The newspaper quoted a member of the group as saying there are no plans to put a specific proposal before the Chinese and Japanese, but that the group is prepared to discuss a variety of possibilities.

Japan's Kyodo News Agency said the visit seeks to avoid long-term confrontation between China and Japan, and the US is expected to take steps to warm the countries' relations.

The US has declined to take a position in the dispute but has said the Diaoyu Islands fall under the US-Japan security treaty, a contention that has drawn objections from China.

The US stance on the Diaoyu Islands is related to its "pivot to Asia" strategy and its aim, as China's influence becomes greater, to strike a new balance of regional power in East Asia, said Shen Dingli, director of the Center for American Studies at Fudan University in Shanghai.

But the continued tensions, especially with the US posing a greater military threat, will only damage the foundation the US stands on in trying to maintain order in the Asia-Pacific region, Shen said recently.

The US and Japan have planned a drill to simulate retaking of a remote island from foreign forces. That action will form part of broader Japan-US maneuvers that are to start in early November.

AFP reported on Saturday, though, that the governments are likely to cancel the drill out of a fear that it will provoke more anger in China. China dispatched naval vessels, aircraft and helicopters to the East China Sea on Friday, sending them there for a one-day exercise.

Meanwhile, Tokyo has started to turn to Moscow. During a meeting between Japan and Russia in Tokyo on Friday, the Japanese asked that Russia show understanding toward Japan's stance on the Diaoyu Islands.

Japanese newspaper Sankei Shimbun said China's presence in the ocean is expanding and Japan and Russia have a "shared belief about containing China".

Questions:

1. Who is the group of former national security officials from the US led by?

2. What is the US expected to take steps to warm?

3. Which country is reported to share Japan’s beliefs about containing China?

Answers:

1. US deputy secretary of state Richard L. Armitage.

2. Relations between China and Japan.

3. Russia.

About the broadcaster:

Emily Cheng is an editor at China Daily. She was born in Sydney, Australia and graduated from the University of Sydney with a degree in Media, English Literature and Politics. She has worked in the media industry since starting university and this is the third time she has settled abroad - she interned with a magazine in Hong Kong 2007 and studied at the University of Leeds in 2009.