Clinton says US has a stake in Asian security

US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton waded into a fresh spat between China and Japan on Saturday, saying the United States has a key stake in territorial disputes between Beijing and its neighbors and will remain a major power in the Asia-Pacific region.

In a speech to East Asian leaders in Vietnam, Clinton declared that America has a direct national security interest in seeing peaceful resolutions to competing claims over islands that have led to a spike in animosity between China and other countries in the region, notably US ally Japan. (AP)