A group of high-ranking Chinese military officials are in Japan to discuss the disputed Diaoyu Islands, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said yesterday.

Ge Zhenfeng, deputy chief of general staff of the People's Liberation Army (PLA), is scheduled to meet Japanese Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada and heads of staff of Japan's Self Defense Force (SDF) during his five-day stay, an unnamed MND spokesperson said in a statement. He also said Ge would also visit the Ground SDF.

The two sides might discuss such issues as the territorial dispute over the Diaoyu Islands and China's military spending, the Kyodo News Agency has reported.

The PLA Daily reported high-ranking PLA officials accompanying Ge include the deputy commander of the Beijing military area command, vice-commander of the South China Sea Fleet and vice-president of the PLA National Defense University.

"We believe the visit will promote relations between the two national defense ministries and boost our mutual trust in defense and security," the MND spokesperson said.

Hong Yuan, an international relations expert with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said Ge might reiterate China's stance on the Diaoyu Islands and seek to avoid an escalation of the dispute.

Last Tuesday, the Foreign Ministry lodged a protest with the Japanese embassy in Beijing. The protest was in response to Japanese media reports that the island nation's Coast Guard anchored patrol vessels carrying helicopters on Feb 1 in waters off the Diaoyu Islands - five small, non-volcanic islets located between Taiwan and Okinawa.

High-level military exchanges between the two nations had been suspended for several years because of former Japanese prime minister Junichiro Koizumi's visits to the Yasukuni Shrine, which honors Japan's war dead, including Class-A war criminals.

Exchanges resumed as bilateral relations warmed in autumn 2006 after Koizumi's successor Shinzo Abe's visit to China.

Last year, commanders of China's air force and navy visited Japan, while the head of SDF and Japan's deputy defense minister visited China.

The MND spokesman also confirmed Beijing and Washington would resume their annual military dialogue next week.

He said US Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense David Sedney would visit Beijing from Feb 26 to 28 for the annual Defense Policy Coordination Talks.?

(China Daily February 18, 2009)