Security talks with Japan to resume

By Wang Zhuoqiong (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-03-12 08:06

China and Japan will resume security talks after a gap of more than two years by the end of this month, a senior official said Wednesday.

The dialogue was suspended in 2006 after bilateral ties hit a low because of Japan's former prime minister Junichiro Koizumi's repeated visits to the Yasukuni Shrine. The shrine houses tablets of Japan's World War II criminals, who invaded many Asian nations including China.

The resumption of talks in Tokyo will help promote trust, the official, who declined to be identified, told China Daily on the sidelines of the ongoing session of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) in Beijing. The CPPCC is China's top political advisory body.

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The official said foreign affairs and defense officials of both nations will deliberate on security and defense policies during the talks. China will send an assistant foreign minister, he said.

The talks, which will likely coincide with Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso's visit to China, are an indication that the two nations are willing to address disputes through dialogue, analysts said.

"The talks come at the right time as the territory disputes between the two nations heated up recently," said Zhu Feng, a professor at the School of International Studies at Peking University.

Zhu was referring to China's protest against Aso's sovereignty claim over the Diaoyu Islands last month. China has also said it has the right to develop offshore oilfields in the East China Sea, which Japan claims as in its territory.

The talks will help ease tensions and will pave the way for solutions to disputes, Zhu said, adding that a resumption of the dialogue means Sino-Japanese ties are improving as a whole. "The talks will greatly help improve bilateral relations."

The resumption of talks gains further significance as it comes at a time when tension runs high in the region over the Democratic People's Republic of Korea's (DPRK) plan to launch a satellite that some nations regard as a guise for a missile test.

Earlier this week, the DPRK drew criticism from the Republic of Korea (ROK) after it cut off telephone lines between the two over the joint military drill between the United States and the ROK.

Liu Jiangyong, a professor of East Asian studies at Tsinghua University, said on Tuesday that tensions on the Korean Peninsula have reached its peak since the Six-Party Talks started in 2003. The talks, apart from the DPRK and the ROK, include China, Japan, Russia and the US.

Liu said the dialogue among all parties is crucial to resolving the issue.