Japan, China agree system to avert conflict at sea
Tokyo, Oct. 11: The defence ministers of Japan and China on Monday agreed to set up a liaison system to prevent conflicts at sea, as the two sides look to repair the damage from a diplomatic row, Jiji Press reported.
Japanese Defence Minister Toshimi Kitazawa and his Chinese counterpart Liang Guanglie met on the sidelines of an Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) meeting in the Vietnamese capital Hanoi.
Kitazawa told Liang it would be "unproductive" to discuss in Hanoi the disputed islands in the East China Sea at the centre of the row, Jiji said.
Kitazawa also agreed with Liang that both countries will enhance their "mutually beneficial strategic partnership", the report said.
The defence ministers met for the first time after China broke off all high-level contact with Tokyo last month, infuriated by Japan's detention of a Chinese fishing boat captain whose vessel collided with Japanese coast guard patrol ships in waters claimed by both sides.
The row between Asia's two biggest economies was their worst in years and undermined painstaking recent efforts to improve relations marked by decades of mistrust stemming from Japan's brutal 1930s invasion of China.
The Chinese skipper was released after more than two weeks and returned to China on September 25. The two countries, which have deep trade ties, are trying to mend fences, with Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao holding a brief meeting last week in Brussels on the sidelines of an Asia-Europe summit.
Kan said he agreed with Wen to "resume high-level political exchanges" suspended following the sea incident. Jiji said Liang told Kitazawa: "I am grateful that the row was dealt with from the perspective of safeguarding our countries' relations."
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