TOKYO: Senior Chinese and Japanese officials met on Monday to discuss maritime concerns in disputed waters in the East China Sea as Beijing conducted wargames around Taiwan over the weekend.
The meeting, part of the regular round of negotiations that began in 2012, comes as Chinese warplanes and naval ships simulated strikes against Taiwan after President Tsai Ing-wen’s trip of the United States where she met Kevin McCarthy, the US House Speaker.
Ahead of the negotiations, Hong Liang, the chief of the Chinese delegation, said he was seeking maritime cooperation with Japan and expected “in-depth conversation” with his counterpart.
Maritime negotiations
A spokesperson of the government of Japan said Japan had been following China’s drills around Taiwan continuously and “with good interest”.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said, “Peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait isn’t only important for the security of Japan but for the stability and peace of the world community as a whole,”
China, which considers Taiwan the part of China, regards meetings between the US and Taiwanese officials as interference in its country’s affairs.
It hasn’t ruled out using force to bring what it views as a rogue province under its control.
The Chinese official, Hong Liang, is the director-general of boundary and ocean affairs in the foreign ministry, while Japan’s side is being led by Takehiro Funakoshi, its director-general of Asian and Oceanian Affairs.
At the previous meeting in November, Hong Liang criticised Tokyo for commenting on Beijing’s activity in the Taiwan Strait separating the island from the mainland.
He asked Japan to pull its military ships back from the seas around islands in the East China Sea claimed by both states.
The coast guard ships of both countries regularly confront each other in the waters around the Japanese-controlled islands, known in Japan as the Senkaku and in China as the Diaoyu.
Previous month, Japan and China set up a military hotline to help defuse any sear and air incidents in the contested waters.
