STORY HIGHLIGHTS

Tokyo (CNN) -- The United States stands by its security agreement with Japan in its dispute with China over a group of islands, President Barack Obama said Thursday.

The securities agreement between Washington and Tokyo is decades old, he told reporters in the Japanese capital. And it would be honored in any conflict arising out of tensions over the islands that Japan calls Senkaku and China calls Diaoyu.

But the President, who spoke alongside Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, would not say how the United States would get involved in any strife over the islands.

The group of islands and rocks jutting out of the ocean is tiny and uninhabited. But the long-standing dispute over them has sent tempers flaring in Beijing and Tokyo, especially in recent years.

The area around them in the South China Sea between Taiwan and Okinawa is believed to be rich in oil resources.

Senkaku is administered by the Japanese, but the Chinese claim they are the rightful owners.

The possibility of a war over the islands has been a thorn in the side of the United States, which says it is obligated by the common security agreement to back Japan.

Preaching dialogue

Obama repeatedly urged that Japan and China to seek a peaceful resolution through dialogue.

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Obama backs Japan in islands row