In his Aug. 29 article, "Obama's great Asian dawdle," Brahma Chellaney gets it wrong on two major points.
First, Chellaney asks, "How reassured can Japan be with such doublespeak?" The doublespeak he refers to happens to be a historical fact of great relevance to the Senkaku Islands dispute — namely that the United States in 1971, when returning Okinawa to Japan, stated specifically that while it was returning to Japan administrative rights to the islands, the question of sovereignty would be left undecided.
The U.S. has never moved from that position.
Second, the world now realizes that U.S. President's Barack Obama's "dawdle" over Syria was in fact a wise move giving hope to stabilize a dreadful situation.
The opinions expressed in this letter to the editor are the writer's own and do not necessarily reflect the policies of The Japan Times.