China and Japan will begin consultations anew tomorrow to try
and resolve the ongoing dispute about gas exploration rights in the
East China Sea. The talks, seeking to draft a joint development
proposal before the autumn, should give body to the consensus
reached by Premier Wen Jiabao and his Japanese counterpart Shinzo
Abe in Japan last month.
The two leaders agreed on speeding up consultations with the aim
of coming to an understanding on joint development.
The two governments have respectively nominated Hu Zhengyue,
director of the Foreign Ministry Asian Affairs Department and
Kenichiro Sasae, head of the Japanese Foreign Ministry's Asian and
Oceanian Affairs Bureau to lead the delegations.
Japanese sources revealed that Hu and Sasae would broaden their
discussion platform to overall Sino-Japanese relations after the
debate on the East China Sea issue.
The talks have garnered much attention as both countries seem
determined to work together. However, seven earlier rounds of talks
since 2004 proved fruitless.
According to Japanese media, Tokyo has proposed a broader plan
which would see the two nations jointly tap natural gas resources
over a much wider area straddling the Japan-designated median
line.
Beijing's plan calls for more limited cooperation with joint
work confined to the northern and southern areas of the East China
Sea, a proposal that dismissed by Tokyo.
The issue was potentially laid to rest during Wen's visit when
both countries compromised and agreed on an extended geographical
area of cooperation which was acceptable to both sides.
Analysts say China and Japan must find a way to work together
despite frictions caused by historical and territorial
quarrels.
Feng Zhaokui, a senior researcher on Sino-Japanese ties at the
Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, sees the issue as a yardstick
for the future evolution of bilateral relations, adding that "the
two countries surely need to explore ways to cooperate rather than
compete for energy resources."
The East China Sea covers an area of more than 700,000 square km
with an estimated 7.2 billion tons of gas and oil resources lying
untapped beneath its surface.
(Xinhua News Agency May 24, 2007)
