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3 Japan, China gear up
for gas talks By Hisane Masaki
be jointly developed. Japan has
proposed the joint development of four gas fields
- Chunxiao/Shirakaba, Duanqiao/Kusunoki,
Tianwaitian/Kashi and Longjing/Asunaro. China has
rejected the Japanese proposal and made
counter-proposals that call for the joint
development of two areas - one around
Longjing/Asunaro and the other around the Senkaku
Islands. China wants to limit any possible joint
development to the Japanese side of the median
line. Japan's Nikkei business daily reported
recently that Tokyo
has
proposed to China joint development of a wider
area around the disputed gas fields than it
proposed earlier, including on the Japanese side
of the median line, in a bid to break the deadlock
in negotiations. "Japan seeks to effectively
shelve the contentious issue of setting a
demarcation line," the Nikkei said. The paper said
Japanese Administrative Vice Foreign Minister
Shotaro Yachi made the proposal during a visit to
Beijing in late January and that Japan hoped for a
deal in time for Premier Wen's visit to Tokyo in
mid-April.
But Akira Amari, the minister
of economy, trade and industry, immediately denied
the report, saying: "It is not a fact that such a
proposal was made at the vice-ministerial talks in
January." Amari said, however, that the top
Chinese leadership is saying progress may be
achieved in the next bureau-chief-level talks on
the gas dispute and that he also has "high
expectations".
In their meeting in
mid-February, Abe told Li, "I would like to
resolve the resources-development issue as soon as
possible so that the East China Sea will be a
place of peace, cooperation and friendship." Li
replied that he wanted the two governments to
discuss issues "seriously and with patience" and
then proposed resuming bureau-chief-level talks as
early as March. Japan agreed to this proposal.
The agreement to hold the next meeting,
the seventh round of high-level talks, apparently
reflects a strong desire on both sides to sustain
improved bilateral relations
China is now
Japan's most important trading partner, along with
the United States. Japan also needs to cooperate
closely to resolve the issue of North Korea's
nuclear and missile programs, which currently pose
the biggest security threat to Japan. Furthermore,
Japan wants to see China exert its influence with
the reclusive Stalinist state to address the issue
of that country's past abductions of Japanese
citizens, the biggest sticking point between Tokyo
and Pyongyang.
China, for its part, also
has good reasons to push for a further improvement
in bilateral ties. Despite its rapid ascendance as
an economic power, China, the world's most
populous developing country, still badly needs
Japanese capital and technologies.
To be
sure, the agreement to resume high-level gas talks
should be welcome news. The two countries will get
nowhere if they do not talk anyway. But
expectations of an early breakthrough may be
betrayed. It is becoming increasingly difficult
for either government to compromise on the issue,
for political as well as economic reasons.
Abe is a staunchly conservative
politician. He is widely known for his nationalist
views on history and hawkish stance toward
countries such as China, which is rapidly building
up and modernizing its military and is widely
viewed in Japan as the biggest potential security
threat in the medium and long terms. There is
growing discontent among conservatives, however,
that Abe has changed his coat since taking office.
In an attempt to repair damaged relations with
China, Abe has either toned down or even reversed
his previous rhetoric, at least in public.
Japan has strongly demanded that China
stop its development of the gas fields in question
until the two countries strike a deal on the
dispute, a demand ignored by Beijing. Many
lawmakers of Abe's ruling Liberal Democratic Party
(LDP) doubt Beijing's seriousness about seeking a
negotiated settlement to the gas issue. In fact,
it was not until mid-February that Beijing agreed
to repeated Japanese requests for a resumption of
high-level talks on the gas issue.
Many
LDP politicians believe that a weak-kneed stance
could hurt Japan's national interests. Shoichi
Nakagawa, the hawkish LDP policy chief, recently
criticized the Japanese government for what he
sees as a too-weak stance and called for it to let
Teikoku Oil Co, a unit of Inpex Holdings, the
nation's largest oil and gas explorer, to start
test-drilling in waters near the gas fields in
question as a countermeasure against China.
In the summer of 2005, the Japanese
government granted Teikoku Oil the right to
conduct a test-drilling in the areas near the
disputed gas fields, although no such
test-drilling has been actually conducted yet for
fears of aggravating tensions - and possibly
triggering an armed confrontation - with China.
Inpex Holdings was born last April as a joint
holding company of Inpex Corp and Teikoku Oil,
Japan's No 1 and No 3 oil developers, to integrate
their operations.
In 2005, the Japanese
government decided to build the country's first
ship specially designed to survey offshore oil
deposits. Also, in a move aimed at providing a
legal basis for protecting Japan's test-drilling
activities in the East China Sea, the ruling LDP
has been pressing for the enactment of a bill
since early last year to
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