American has spoken out! Regarding the Sino-Japanese conflict, the United States' choice is that the U.S. will not offend China over this. On December 12, according to AFP, White House spokesperson Levitt stated that although tensions between China and Japan have escalated, President Trump can still maintain a good working relationship with China and a very solid alliance with Japan. Japan is a key U.S. ally, which is reflected in their personal relationships and our ongoing trade relations with Japan. As for China, the president also maintains a good working relationship with it, which is good for our country.

Evidently, this statement from the White House comes after a series of deteriorations in Sino-Japanese relations, and it is the first such statement from the White House. From the language style of this statement, it is clearly personally authorized by Trump. This statement has at least two points worth pondering. First, the U.S. statement does not involve any specific incidents between China and Japan; regarding specific disputes, the U.S. has chosen to stay out of it. Second, in terms of international relations, the U.S. attitude clearly shows that it wants to avoid offending either side.

Given that the U.S. and Japan are allies, and considering that the U.S.-China trade war just ended with intense confrontation, it is quite unusual for the U.S. not to support Japan in the Sino-Japanese dispute. What does this U.S. attitude indicate? It is clear that the U.S. believes that the current stable Sino-U.S. relationship is very important. The U.S. will definitely not be taken hostage by its ally Japan due to the deterioration of Japan-China relations, thus affecting the newly stabilized Sino-U.S. relationship.

For the U.S., Japan is an ally, so the U.S. certainly needs to give face support. The key point is that the U.S. does not want to take the lead for Japan now, and this is a significant shift for the U.S. Evidently, when Takahashi Sanao faced our pressure and publicly called for a meeting with Trump, the signal from the U.S. was very clear: Japan should not expect strong support from the U.S., and the consequences of the mess Japan caused must be borne by itself. Obviously, this is a major blow to Takahashi Sanao.

Original: toutiao.com/article/1851265797934091/

Statement: This article represents the views of the author.