China and Japan conducted the eighth round of talks on the East
China Sea issues at Beijing's Diaoyutai State Guesthouse Friday
morning, agreeing to hold fresh talks in late June.
Chinese Foreign Ministry's Director of Asian Affairs Department
Hu Zhengyue attended the talks as top Chinese negotiator.
The Japanese delegation is represented by Kenichiro Sasae, head
of the Foreign Ministry's Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau, and
Harufumi Mochizuki, director-general of Japan's Natural Resources
and Energy Agency.
The two sides expressed their respective views on the joint
development of the gas and oil resources in East China Sea in both
formal and informal ways, Chinese Foreign Ministry said in a press
release.
"The discussions are in-depth and conducive," the press release
said, adding that both sides agreed the next round of talks be held
in late June.
The current close-door talks took place after Chinese Premier
Wen Jiabao's visit to Japan last month, during which China and
Japan agreed to speed up talks over the joint development of oil
and gas fields in a "relatively wide area that is acceptable to
both sides", and to report concrete measures to the countries'
leaders by this fall.
"As this is the first negotiation held following the five-point
consensus reached by the Chinese and Japanese leaders last month,
each side has paid great attention to this round of talks, "Hu said
in his opening remarks.
Calling the talks "a new beginning" for both sides, Hu said
China is ready to make joint efforts with Japan to push forward the
consultations.
The Japanese side hopes to hear "positive and specific views"
presented by China during the one-day talks, Sasae was quoted as
saying so upon his arrival in Beijing Thursday.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu told a regular
press conference Thursday that China wants to promote the
negotiation process and achieve a joint development plan
"acceptable to both sides at an early date" based on the consensus
reached by the two leaders.
The two countries have conducted seventh rounds of East China
Sea talks since October 2004. The last round of talks was conducted
in Tokyo in March.
(Xinhua News Agency May 30, 2007)
