Exclusive | Japanese foreign minister Fumio Kishida urges dialogue with China to ease tensions

China and Japan should resume talks on establishing a maritime defence communication mechanism and other practical issues, Japan's Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida told the South China Morning Post.

Resolving these issues would reduce the risk of an unintended escalation in territorial tensions in the East China Sea and pave the way for improved relations overall, Kishida said in an exclusive interview with the Post in Tokyo.

He urged China to continue "our candid exchange of views" and hoped the discussions would lead to high-level political talks between the two sides.

His appeal came at time when bilateral ties have been severely strained by disputes over the Diaoyu Islands, known in Japan as the Senkakus, and the visit by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in December to the Yasukuni Shrine that honours the country's war dead, including 14 leading war criminals.

Since that visit, Beijing has suspended most official exchanges with Tokyo and said Chinese leaders would refuse to meet Abe and other senior Japanese officials as the countries became locked in a global public relations battle.

In the latest move to ratchet up political pressure, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress approved two national remembrance days to commemorate the Nanking massacre and Japan's defeat in the second world war.