英美报刊选读presentation.docVIP

4.24 time Obama to Japan: Yes, the U.S. Will Defend You President Obama acknowledged for the first time on Thursday that the disputed islands in the East China Sea, which are claimed by both Japan and China, fall under Washingtons security treaty with Tokyo (日美安保条约)and that he will defend Japan if they are attacked Just how low would he go? In November 2009, as Barack Obama shook hands in Tokyo with Japan’s Emperor Akihito（明仁天皇）, the U.S. President bowed his head deeply in the Japanese tradition. The deferential （恭敬的）greeting kicked up a minifirestorm back in the U.S., with right-wing Americans chastising（责骂） Obama for somehow submitting to a foreign power. On April 24, Obama, on an Asian tour that was delayed by last fall’s U.S. government shutdown, again met with Japan’s Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko（皇后美智子）. No deep bows were in evidence this time. Instead, Obama used the morning meeting at Tokyo’s Imperial Palace for a little levity, joking that in the intervening four years, his hair had turned gray. “You have a very hard job,” the Emperor responded. Obama is kicking off （开始）his four-nation Asia trip with a state visit to Japan, where he is underscoring（强调） the allies’ security ties and pushing for a trade pact （推动达成一项贸易协定）that faces hurdles in both Washington and Tokyo. While the President will not stop in China this time around, Beijing’s growing regional footprint will surely be a matter of discussion in all the countries he will visit: Japan, South Korea, Malaysia and the Philippines. All of these nations are currently involved in territorial disputes（领土争端） with China, mostly over tiny uninhabited bits of rock（无人居住的小岛） in contested waters.（有争议的海域） One of the conflicts involves islets （小岛）in the East China Sea that Japan administers but to which China lays claim. Since the Japanese government nationalized some of the outcrops （露出）in 2012, maritime and aerial confrontations between Beijing and Tokyo have increased significantly. The U.S. says it does not