By Shannon Tiezzi
Japan and China resume dedicated security talks after an over four year hiatus.
China and Japan’s deputy foreign ministers met in Tokyo on Thursday to hold the two countries’ first bilateral security dialogue in over four years. Vice Foreign Minister Liu Jianchao led the Chinese delegation, with Japanese Deputy Foreign Minister Shinsuke Sugiyama representing Japan. Unnamed senior defense ministry officials from both sides were also reportedly present.
That the talks were held at all can be considered a breakthrough. Japan and China last held designated security talks in January 2011, before the relationship soured in 2012 in the wake of Japan’s decision to nationalize the disputed Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands. The territorial dispute is only the tip of the iceberg, however; at heart, both countries deeply distrust each other’s motivations for shoring up military forces.
As expected, Thursday’s talks saw little concrete progress on actually dealing with the entrenched security issues that divide Beijing and Tokyo. The one area ripe for deliverables – the creation of a communication mechanism for encounters at sea and in the air – didn’t progress as far as hoped. According to Reuters, the two sides failed to agree on a timeline for the mechanism, although both China and Japan reaffirmed their commitment to completing the deal.
Read the full story at The Diplomat