Beijing (China Daily/ANN) - Tokyo briefed Washington yesterday on its stance in the islands diplomatic standoff during high-level talks in Japan's capital as the country's month-long territorial row with China continues.

Japanese Foreign Minister Koichiro Gemba met visiting US Deputy Secretary of State Bill Burns in Tokyo yesterday.

Gemba sought Washington's understanding of Japan's position that no territorial dispute exists over the uninhabited islands, Kyodo News Agency reported.

Burns also said he endorsed the importance of the US-Japan alliance during the talks.

After arriving in Tokyo on Sunday, Burns also met Japanese Defence Minister Satoshi Morimoto and Shinzo Abe, leader of Japan's main opposition Liberal Democratic Party and former prime minister.

Abe, who is promising to help his party win the upcoming general election, told Burns that "there is no room for talk" on the East China Sea's Diaoyu Islands (known in Japan as Senkaku), Japan's Jiji Press News Agency reported.

Burns embarked on an eight-day trip on Saturday to Japan, South Korea, China, Myanmar and India, and the deputy secretary will visit China today and tomorrow.

Washington has affirmed that it does not have a position on the row, and it rejected a mediation role.

Yuan Peng, an expert on US studies at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, said Washington is making unseen efforts to keep the situation from spiralling out of control, and its public gesture of "no mediation" has given it greater flexibility in coordinating both sides.

"For Washington, keeping the situation on track now doesn't hurt it and, in return, will be more in its interests from a strategic view," Yuan said.

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US, Japanese officials hold discussion on islands row