Japan, China agree ways to improve ties

Japan and China's foreign ministers agreed on Sunday to improve ties through private and cultural exchanges, a Japanese official said, after tensions spiked over a territorial row in the East China Sea.

Relations between Asia's two biggest economies soured after Japan in September detained a Chinese skipper whose fishing boat collided with Japanese patrol vessels off the disputed islands.

The boat captain was later released and sent home, but tensions have persisted, prompting worries about fallout for business. Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan has come under domestic fire for appearing to cave in to China's demands.

The top spokesman for the Chinese foreign ministry, Ma Zhaoxu, told reporters that Beijing was "satisfied with the outcome" of the meeting, which comes a day after Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan met Chinese President Hu Jintao on the sidelines of an Asia-Pacific summit in Yokohama, near Tokyo.

The two ministers "thoroughly discussed growth strategies, human security, regional economic integration, an assessment of the Bogor goals, the Doha round negotiations and the future development of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation organisation, reaching a broad consensus, and achieving abundant, practical and substantive outcomes."

Japanese Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara urged Beijing to reopen talks on gas fields in the East China Sea, the Japanese official said.

But Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi replied that an "environment" was needed to do so, the Japanese official said, which would suggest that a feud over potentially vast maritime resources will continue to fester.

Beijing has repeatedly said an "appropriate environment" was necessary to hold high-level talks, but has not publicly specified what that means. Tokyo objects to Chinese development of the gas fields, which overlap with what Japan says is the boundary for its exclusive economic zone in the area. Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Cui Tiankai told a mainland-run Hong Kong newspaper that China and Japan should redouble efforts to improve ties.

Cui told the Wen Wei Po newspaper that China and Japan were aiming for a stable strategic relationship, "but historical and present-day conflicts and problems between them mean this will not always be plain-sailing."

"Precisely because there are these difficulties, both sides should redouble their efforts," said Cui, a former ambassador to Japan. "Promoting the establishment of a strategic mutually beneficial relationship is in the interests of both China and Japan."