Japan, China talks end 4-year hiatus
Print Edition
JAPAN and China held security talks yesterday after a four-year hiatus because of simmering territorial tensions. It was a meeting expected to touch on the flashpoint issue of maritime crisis management, officials and reports said.
The first such dialogue between the two countries since January 2011 was held at Japan’s foreign ministry in Tokyo, a government official said, in the latest sign of a hastening thaw in once-frozen relations.
The talks involved top officials from each country’s foreign and defense ministries, including Liu Jianchao, China’s assistant foreign minister, and Shinsuke Sugiyama, Japan’s deputy foreign minister.
China hopes Japan could stick to its decades-long “purely defensive defense” strategy and have an objective and rational perception on China’s development, the Chinese delegation said.
The delegation, led by Liu, also expressed concerns over Japan’s security moves in recent years and expected Tokyo to adhere to a path of peaceful development and play a constructive role in maintaining peace and stability in the region.
Japan overhauled its defense stance since Prime Minister Shinzo Abe took office in late 2012 by lifting bans on weapons exports, reinterpreting its pacifist constitution to allow its Self-Defense Forces to exercise right to collective self-defense and boosting defense budget.
The Japanese side said further exchanges on the security issue help improve mutual trust between the two countries and are of significance to further enhance bilateral ties, according to the Chinese delegation.
The two sides agreed to intensify dialogue and communication on the basis of equality and steadily push forward security cooperation to improve bilateral strategic relationships.
Liu said it is important to keep dialogue between the two countries’ foreign and defense ministries as the two sides are important neighbors and regional powers, adding the meeting is also of significance to maintain regional peace.
China-Japan relations witnessed a turning point last year with the signing of a four-point agreement, adding Beijing hopes to develop ties with Tokyo in the spirit of “taking history as a mirror and looking forward to the future,” he said.
Sugiyama said Japan-China ties had gradually improved since last year after the agreement to establish an air and maritime emergency contact mechanism and high-level negotiations over maritime issues.
The two sides should talk directly so as to resolve problems existing in their ties and carry out relevant cooperation through talks, he noted.
Senior officials from both sides’ defense ministries also took part in the meeting.
The talks, launched in 1993, were last held in Beijing in January 2011 but were suspended due to Japan’s unilateral move to “nationalize” China’s Diaoyu Islands. China-Japan ties are frayed due to the territorial dispute as well as historical issues.
China had since refused most high-level talks with Tokyo, as ships and planes from both sides regularly sparred in the East China Sea.
Some observers warned that the presence of military or paramilitary vessels risked conflict through error or a wayward local commander.
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