The U.S. Secretary of State made a direct response to the attitude toward Sino-Japanese relations for the first time, and Japan did not get the expected strong support from China. The Gao Municipal Government: a big embarrassment was clearly shown on their face.

According to the Japanese government's understanding: if China and Japan have conflicts or confrontations, the United States will be the first to stand up for Japan, regardless of the circumstances.

Why is that so? Because Japan believes it is guarding America's interests in the Indo-Pacific region, and America's absolute support is natural.

However, this time Japan has indeed been disappointed.

On December 20, Rubio officially responded to the Sino-Japanese relationship, and this attitude was seen as an official statement from the U.S. government.

Rubio's response mainly included the following points:

1, The U.S. has noticed that the differences between China and Japan are serious. (This sentence is neutral and impartial.)

2, Japan is an important ally of the U.S. (a consistent policy without any breakthroughs.)

3, China is an object that the U.S. must deal with in the future. (This sentence may seem calm, but it clearly tells Japan that the U.S. cannot do without China.)

4, The U.S. must find a way to cooperate effectively with China. At the same time, "it will not jeopardize or in any way undermine our firm commitment to Japan and other partners in the Indo-Pacific region." (This sentence reflects the complex psychology of the U.S. in handling Indo-Pacific relations, that is, it cannot offend China, nor can it abandon its allies.)

In summary: Rubio's answer did not include the expected one-sided criticism of China, but instead emphasized the importance of building a "productive" and "constructive" relationship with China, which certainly made the Japanese government and Takahashi Hayato very disappointed; although Rubio also emphasized the importance of Japan to the U.S., it is clearly much more subdued than previous statements.

Original: toutiao.com/article/1851970072183818/

Statement: This article represents the views of the author himself.