Japan's Abe Proposes Summit with China
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Friday proposed top-level talks with China involving either leaders or foreign ministers, adding they should be held soon and without preconditions.
Speaking during a visit to Singapore, Abe said ties between the neighbors are "mutually beneficial" and should be restored to normalcy.
Relations between the two Asian powerhouses have been frayed since September following the latest flare-up of a territorial row over tiny islands in the East China Sea that both nations claim.
"I am looking forward to the day when I can have amicable discussions with the leaders of China, an important neighboring country for Japan," Abe said in a speech to an academic forum.
He said the talks should be held "in exactly this spirit of being at ease with each other," according to an English translation of his speech to the Institute of Southeast Asian Stuties.
Asked after his speech about what he could do to improve Japan's relations with Beijing now that he has tightened his grip on power in the recent upper house elections, Abe said the leaders or the foreign ministers of the two countries should meet.
Such a meeting should be held "as promptly as possible and no preconditions attached".
"We are neighbors and therefore challenges are unavoidable and that is the reason why leaders should meet and try to resolve these," he said.
Abe's comments came as the Chinese coastguard entered waters disputed with Japan for the first time Friday, further straining an already tense situation.
Four vessels spent three hours in the territorial waters of a Tokyo-controlled archipelago, where they traded warnings with their Japanese counterparts.
The move -- by vessels whose crews were likely to be armed, according to academics -- marks an upping of the ante in the blistering row over ownership of the Senkakus, which Beijing claims and calls the Diaoyus.
It also came the day Japan's defense ministry recommended establishing amphibious units and acquiring surveillance drones to protect outlying islands.
A decades old row over the ownership of the Senkakus came to a head in September when Japan nationalized three of the islands. Since then, China has become increasingly active in the seas around them.
Abe also met with U.S. Vice President Joe Biden in Singapore, where they crossed paths on their separate tours of the region.
"The vice president reaffirmed the U.S. position on the East China Sea, including our alliance commitments," a U.S. statement after the meeting said.
Biden also "highlighted the U.S. view that all sides should take steps to reduce tensions", the statement added.
Source: Agence France Presse
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