China & Japan Discuss East China Sea Disputes

After years of tense relations, political leaders from China, Japan and South Korea have agreed to restore cooperation amid strained relations in the region. The trilateral meeting was the first three-way summit since 2012 between the East Asian powers.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and South Korean President Park Geun-hye agreed to accelerate talks for trilateral free-trade agreements and to bolster cultural exchanges between the countries.

In addition, China and Japan have agreed to restart high-level talks on the exploration of natural resources in the East China Sea. Abe and Li agreed that their respective nations should establish maritime and air communications mechanisms to prevent regional conflict.

Relations between China and Japan have been particularly strained this year due to Beijing’s offshore constructions near disputed territories in the East China Sea. In August, the Japanese government has released 14 photos of Chinese offshore platforms in the South China Sea.

The photos pinpointed 16 offshore construction projects located in disputed maritime territories near the median line between the Chinese and Japanese shorelines. The new structures are on China’s side of the line, but Japan’s primary concern is that these platforms could serve as auxiliary military bases near its littoral nations.

The Chinese asserted that the majority these new facilities will be used for drilling, processing and storing natural gases, but Japan said the structures could easily be fashioned with air defense radar systems and heliports.

Beijing also wants Japan to stay out of its maritime disputes in the South China Sea, which involves U.S. allies such as the Philippines, Vietnam and Malaysia. China’s development of artificial islands in the South China Sea has sparked discontent in the region. While the projects are not close to Japanese territories, Tokyo worries that Beijing’s ambitious moves could spread toward the East China Sea.

The trilateral meeting comes nearly one week after the U.S. set a destroyer near China’s artificial constructions in the Spratly archipelago. China was angered by the move and claimed the U.S. was militarizing the region.