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Beijing and Tokyo to resume ministerial-level dialogue

Updated: 2011-02-28 07:47

By Cheng Guangjin (China Daily)

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BEIJING - China and Japan will hold a strategic dialogue on Monday in Tokyo, resuming ministerial-level talks that were suspended after bilateral ties soured last year after a fishing boat collision near the Diaoyu Islands.

The 11th strategic dialogue will be headed by Chinese Vice-Foreign Minister Zhang Zhijun and his Japanese counterpart Sasae Kenichiro.

Japan's Kyodo News Agency said on Saturday that the Japanese government hopes to repair bilateral ties that have deteriorated since last September's collision, and lay the groundwork for Prime Minister Naoto Kan's planned visit to China this summer.

Bilateral ties soured and meetings at ministerial levels between China and Japan were suspended after the collision near China's Diaoyu Islands in September 2010.

According to Kyodo, the two sides will discuss how to prevent similar incidents from happening again, as well as the development of gas fields in the East China Sea.

Despite the two nations' common wish to improve ties, differences on key issues remain and expectations of the dialogue should not be too high, said Liu Jiangyong, an expert on East Asia studies at Tsinghua University in Beijing.

"China firmly opposes Japan's violation of China's sovereignty and territorial integrity, which is still China's major concern this time," Liu said.

Ample evidence proves the Diaoyu Islands are an inalienable part of the Chinese territory since ancient times, but Japan also claims sovereignty over the islands.

In its new defense policy for the next decade adopted by the government in December 2010, Japan planned to increase military deployment in this area.

Kyodo said the Chinese side is likely to ask Japan to explain its new defense policy during the dialogue.

Liu said if Japan tries to increase its military strength instead of sticking to peaceful development, "it will harm Japan's national interests, its relations with China and regional peace and stability".

As for the development of gas fields in the East China Sea, Liu said Japan's eagerness to participate in the development of the Chunxiao gas field will mean this issue is raised during the dialogue.

"Japan has been wrongly calling the cooperative development of Chunxiao 'joint development', something that China resolutely objects to," said Liu.

China welcomes Japan's cooperation in developing Chunxiao under Chinese laws and regulations, as its sovereignty belongs to China.

The two sides are also likely to discuss the agenda for leaders' visits this year, Liu said.

The annual meeting of Japanese, Chinese and the Republic of Korea (ROK) foreign ministers will be held in Kyoto, Japan, on March 19 and 20.

Premier Wen Jiabao will attend the Japanese, Chinese and ROK leaders' meeting to be held on May 21 and 22 in Tokyo.

Kyodo said Japanese Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara plans to visit China in April, paving way for Kan's visit in the summer, which the Chinese Foreign Ministry is yet to confirm.

The issue of the Korean Peninsula will also be on the agenda, Liu said, as Vice-Foreign Minister Zhang earlier visited the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, and Japan is one of the participants in the Six-Party Talks.

China Daily

(China Daily 02/28/2011 page12)

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