China and Japan open a fourth round of talks on Monday about how to develop oil and gas resources in disputed areas of the East China Sea, but few see the issue being resolved quickly partly due to poor bilateral ties.
Japan's goal was to gauge the Chinese reaction to a proposal for joint development of the resources made at the third round of negotiations in January, a spokesman for the Japanese embassy in Beijing said.
Past talks have been hampered by strained ties between the two over a range of disputes, most stemming from Japan's invasion and occupation of parts of China from 1931 to 1945.
"We have already presented our position, and are expecting to hear what the Chinese side thinks about this," Kenichiro Sasae, head of the Japanese delegation and the Foreign Ministry's Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau, was quoted as saying late on Sunday by Japan's Kyodo news agency.
The two sides have agreed in principle to jointly develop the gas and oil reserves near the islands known in Japan as the Senkakus and in China as the Diaoyus.
But they disagree over the position of the border between their exclusive economic zones in the East China Sea, and Tokyo fears China's exploitation of resources in the area could tap into resources in its own zone.
In past talks, Japan asked China to provide information on the scope of its resource discoveries in the area and to halt development until a solid agreement was reached, the embassy spokesman said. Japan-China relations have sunk to their lowest point in decades over a range of disputes, particularly Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's visits to a Tokyo war shrine that China sees as a symbol of Japan's past militarism.
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