Clinton calls for restraint in dispute over Diaoyu Islands

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged China and Japan on Thursday to let “cool heads” prevail in a festering dispute over a cluster of islands in the East China Sea that has soured ties between Asia’s two largest economies.

Clinton met Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi on the sidelines of this week’s UN General Assembly meeting in New York and said it was important to ratchet down tensions over the islands, known as the Diaoyu Islands in China and the Senkakus in Japan, a senior State Department official said.

“The secretary ... again urged that cooler heads prevail, that Japan and China engage in dialogue to calm the waters,” the official told reporters.

“We believe that Japan and China have the resources, have the restraint, have the ability to work on this directly and take tensions down, and that is our message to both sides,” the official said.

Clinton was due to meet Japanese Foreign Minister Koichiro Gemba and South Korean Foreign Minister Kim Sung-hwan in a three-way meeting on Friday. Japan and South Korea, two close US allies, have also seen their relationship rocked in recent months by maritime territorial disputes.

Sino-Japanese relations deteriorated sharply after Japan bought the islands from their private owner, hurting bilateral trade ties and tourism, while sparking protests across China.