throughout China. Schools in Tianjin and Beijing (two neighbouring cities) were suspended until September 18. Shanghai Protests lasted for much of the period September 8–18, 2010 outside the Japanese consulate in Shanghai, several signed petitions and letters of protest were submitted to consulate staff. Other places in mainland China Notable protests took place throughout the rest of China requiring extra police deployment and provisional security measures around Japanese businesses or cultural centres. Additionally, due to the large participation in protests by high school and university students, most schools arranged for mandatory extra Saturday lessons to ensure students were not on the streets protesting. Cities with protesters in excess of 3000 and as high as 10,000 included: Chongqing, Shenyang, Changsha, Xi'an, Zhengzhou, Wuhan, Fujian, Mianyang, and Deyang. Hong Kong September 13, 2010, Hong Kong fishermen protest outside the Japanese consulate to China in Central, Hong Kong. Protestors burned Japanese flags and chanted slogans, particularly Japan get out of Diaoyu Islands!. In a more official manner representatives from Hong Kong's political parties spoke to consulate officials requesting a swift release of the detained fishermen. On September 18, the consulate was once again surrounded and protesters wished to pass a notice of protest, however as it was a Saturday, the majority of the consular staff were not present and so the protesters did not receive a response. The protesters then turned to burning the objects in protest. In the northern Sha Tin district citizens gathered and burned Japanese flags and products too. Republic of China (Taiwan) On September 14, 2010, a rally was held in front of the Japanese Interchange Association in Taipei. The protesters threw fish and burned Japanese flags to voice their anger. Response in other countries United States On September 23, 2010, United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told Japanese Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara that Senkaku and nearby waters are covered by the Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security between the United States and Japan, which obligates the United States to defend Japanese territory from attacks by third-party countries, and maintained that USA does not have a position regarding the sovereignty of the islands. At a press conference held on the same day, United States Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said that in the event of military conflict over the Senkaku islands, "Washington would honor its military commitment to intervene". A reporter posed the same question to clarify an