Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe urges further dialogue with China

Talks between Asia's two biggest economies on setting up a maritime communication mechanism to avert accidental conflict in the East China Sea will begin soon, Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said yesterday in Beijing.

Speaking a day after his first meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping since both took power two years ago, Abe said the neighbours were "inseparably bound" and should bear responsibility for the region's peace and prosperity.

"Countries sharing borders will encounter various issues from time to time. This is the same everywhere in the world, [and] that is precisely why we should have dialogue again and again," Abe said.

"I am confident that we can seek solutions to any problem when two leaders meet and discuss frankly with each other."

Abe said he and Xi both agreed to move forward with specific consultations to implement a maritime communication mechanism, which will become the channel to avert any clash in the East China Sea.

A similar mechanism was proposed under then Chinese premier Wen Jiabao but it was never put in place.