Japan, China agree to work together toward creation of E. Asia group+

SHANGHAI, Sept. 28 Kyodo -
Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada and his Chinese counterpart Yang Jiechi
agreed Monday that the two countries will work together toward the creation of
an ''East Asian community'' for closer regional cooperation, with Okada
expressing hope that such an initiative will make the 21st century the ''era of
Asia.''

During a meeting in Shanghai, Okada and Yang did not discuss details of the
envisaged community, such as membership, but Yang said China wants to promote
regional cooperation in energy and the environment in such a grouping,
according to a Japanese Foreign Ministry official.
Okada and Yang also agreed to advance the two nations' ''strategic and mutually
beneficial relations'' and to continue efforts to address pending issues such
as food safety and a dispute over gas field development in the East China Sea,
the official said.
Okada requested that the two countries forge a pact embodying details of how to
implement a joint development agreement the two governments struck in June 2008
in an effort to resolve the row, according to the official.
Referring to the East Asian community concept, Okada was quoted as saying, ''It
is important that Japan and China, and Japan, China and South Korea, work
together and cooperate'' in advancing the initiative.
Stressing that China was the first country to advocate such an initiative, Yang
said, ''A growing number of countries are throwing their support behind the
idea of an East Asian community...We want to promote cooperation also on energy
and the environment (along with the economy) in East Asia,'' according to the
official.
The idea of an East Asian community has been drawing more attention after
Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama floated it during a meeting with Chinese
President Hu Jintao in New York last week.
On the bilateral dispute over gas development in the East China Sea, Okada was
quoted as telling Yang that concluding a pact would benefit both countries.
Yang did not respond to the request, but instead asked Okada to ''create an
environment to realize last year's agreement'' on the issue, the Japanese
official said, without elaborating.
Yang was also quoted as saying that China wants to solve the issue through
joint efforts by the two countries.
Okada called for a swift settlement of a case involving tainted Chinese-made
frozen dumplings that made people ill in Japan, saying the scandal has led to
''distrust'' among Japanese consumers of Chinese-made food, according to the
official.
Yang responded that police in the two countries have been investigating the
case, and that he believes it is ''not good to politicize it.''
The pesticide-tainted dumplings made 10 people ill in Japan from December 2007
to January 2008, sparking anxiety over products imported from China.
The talks with Yang -- along with trilateral talks with South Korean Foreign
Affairs and Trade Minister Yu Myung Hwan the same day -- marked Okada's
diplomatic debut in Asia since taking office on Sept. 16 with the launch of
Japan's new government under Hatoyama, whose Democratic Party of Japan scored a
landslide victory in a general election in late August.
==Kyodo
2009-09-28 23:02:01