“I raised these issues with both of them, urging that their interests really lie in making sure that they lower the temperature and work together in a concerted way to have a calm and restrained approach,” Clinton told a news conference.
“I think that‘s being heard.” The dispute really flared when President Lee Myung-bak became the first South Korean leader to set foot on the island last month.
Lee’s visit and his call for Emperor Akihito to go beyond expressing “deepest regrets” for Japan‘s 1910-1945 colonial rule triggered a diplomatic tit-for-tat feud, and a rare veiled threat from Japan to flex its economic muscle.
Another island dispute has coincided as a standoff between Japan and China sparked anti-Japanese protests in China last month. Known as Diaoyu in China and Senkaku in Japan, the islands are controlled by Japan.
Ahead of the APEC summit and a trip by Clinton to Beijing, China warned the United States not to get involved in territorial disputes in the South China Sea.
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