Progress in China-Japan Maritime Talks
China and Japan have agreed to launch a maritime and aerial crisis management mechanism as soon as possible. The Chinese Defense Ministry announced that some progress was made in the 4th round of expert group discussion on maritime liaison mechanism held by both countries.
A consensus had been reached on various aspects in talks in Tokyo this month, including reaffirming previous agreements on the goal, constitution, operation and technical issues of the mechanism; agreeing to change the name of maritime crisis management mechanism to maritime and aerial crisis management mechanism so as to better conduct consultations on maritime and aerial issues, says a statement from the Ministry.
Defense Ministry spokesperson Yang Yujun informed that the two sides also agreed that conditions for launching the mechanism are met and agreed to launch it as soon as possible. The spokesperson asked Japan to live up to its commitments made at the previous rounds of discussions and take concrete measures to inject more positive elements into improving bilateral ties, including the defense relationship.
China and Japan signed a four-point principled agreement to improve bilateral ties in November in Beijing, in which they agreed to resume political, diplomatic and security dialogues while acknowledging different positions on the Diaoyu Islands.
