'Great differences' remain after China-Japan gas field talks

Jul 9, 2006, 13:21 GMT

Beijing - China and Japan ended two days of talks on disputed offshore oil and gas fields on Sunday, but they appeared to make little progress as China's Foreign Ministry said 'great differences' remained.

Despite the differences, the two sides agreed that the talks were 'conducive and pragmatic' and said they would continue the negotiation process, the ministry said in a statement released through state media.

The Chinese and Japanese teams exchanged views on each other's proposals for jointly exploring resources in the East China Sea but 'great differences still remained,' the ministry said after the sixth round of talks on disputed areas.

'The two sides acknowledged the importance of maintaining stability in the East China Sea and agreed in principle to set up a maritime hotline to deal with unpredictable situations in the area,' it said.

The two delegations were led by Hu Zhengyue, director of the Chinese ministry's Department of Asian Affairs, and Kenichiro Sasae, head of the Japanese Foreign Ministry's Asian and Oceanic Affairs Bureau.

Although the two sides appeared no closer to resolving their disputes, one Chinese expert saw the agreement to set up a hotline as a 'very positive step.'

'The consensus of setting up a communication mechanism demonstrated that both China and Japan hope to avoid conflicts in the area,' the official Xinhua news agency quoted Jin Xide, specialist on Japan at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, as saying.

'From the political perspective, the two sides have agreed to continue the consultation; technically speaking, the negotiation has begun to touch upon very specific issues,' Jin was quoted as saying.

Japan has proposed a joint gas field venture on both sides of what it sees as the countries' sea border.

China does not recognize the border proposed by Japan and claims an area that stretches further to the edge of the continental shelf, reaching as far as the Okinawa Trough.

Last year, China rejected Japanese requests to stop exploration of a gas field that Tokyo says could exploit gas reserves claimed by Japan.

Japan rejected a separate proposal by Beijing for joint development of the disputed area, and has criticized China for failing to provide detailed data on its gas exploration there.