President Obama Reaffirmed Thursday A Decades-Old Treaty Commitment With Japan, Which Extends To A Chain Of Unihabited Islands In The East China Sea Claimed Both By Japan And China ... (Act / Obama) ... Speaking At A Joint News Conference With Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe In Tokyo. Mr. Obama Said The United States Does Not Believe The Status Quo Should Be Changed Unilaterally, And Called For Such Disputes To Be Resolved Peacefully Through Dialogue ... (Act / Obama) China's Foreign Ministry Says The 1960 US / Japan Treaty Of Mutual Cooperation And Security Was Reached During The Cold War And Should Not Undermine China's Territorial Sovereignty And Legitimate Rights To The Islands It Calls Diaoyu. A Foreign Ministry Spokesman Said Beijing Firmly Opposes Putting The Diaoyu Islands Within The Scope Of The Treaty And Urged Washington To Respect The Facts, Take A Responsible Attitude And Honor Its Commitment Of Not Taking Sides On Territorial Sovereignty Issues. He Calls Japan's Occupation Of The Islands Illegal And Invalid. The Islands, Occupied By Japan Since 1895, Were Administered By United States After World War Two, Until They Were Returned To Japan By Treaty In 1972, Joseph Cheng Of Hong Kong University Tells VOA's Victor Beattie ... China Would Prefer A US Position That Is Strictly Neutral In The Islands Dispute .. (Q&A Beattie / Cheng) Bonnie Glaser, China Expert At The Washington-Based Center For Strategic And International Studies, Tells Victor Beattie President Obama Did Not Break Any New Ground, Although His Statement In A Japanese Newspaper Interview Wednesday And His Remarks Thursday Represent The First US Presidential Statement On The Issue ... (Q&A Beattie / Glaser)