China and Japan restart talks on system to avert Diaoyu Island clashes
Negotiations held to finalise mechanism to prevent conflict near disputed Diaoyu Islands
China and Japan yesterday resumed talks on a long-halted maritime crisis management mechanism to prevent clashes around the disputed Diaoyu Islands in the East China Sea.
Representatives from both countries are expected to finish this round of negotiations today and aim to launch the mechanism by the end of the year.
Japanese officials have said the two countries agreed on the basic framework of the mechanism in previous talks, which broke off in 2012 after Tokyo purchased the islands, and one or two rounds of negotiations were needed to finalise details.
Both countries have strengthened their forces around the islands, known as the Senkakus in Japan, prompting concerns that any clash could spark a more serious conflict.
The latest round of talks involves representatives from both countries' defence ministries and navies, according to Tetsuo Kotani, a senior researcher at the Japan Institute of International Affairs who took part in preparatory talks to restart the talks.
Kotani said the two sides would seek to finalise details such as which of the defence ministries' personnel would man a hotline and whether the mechanism would also initially apply to military aircraft. The hotline between the two defence ministries would be part of the mechanism's three-pillared structure, Kotani said.
The two other key elements are the use of common signals between naval and government-owned vessels as well as regular consultations between the two countries' navies.
China has been keen to include air force flights in the mechanism, but Kotani said Japan preferred to focus on maritime operations first and expand the system to the air later. The Code for Unplanned Encounters at Sea, a non-binding international agreement that both China and Japan have endorsed, will be used as the common signalling system between the two countries' naval vessels near the disputed islands, according to Kotani. A more general set of navigation rules, the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea, would also be used and could be applied to naval and civilian ships, he added.