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China, Japan play blame game over territory talks

China said yesterday it was "totally unreasonable" for Japan to blame it over an impasse in talks about their competing claims on the energy-rich East China Sea.

"China has consistently taken a active and pragmatic attitude in the East China Sea negotiations and has put forward fair and reasonable proposals," spokesman Liu Jianchao (劉建超) said in a foreign ministry statement.

"It's not China's responsibility that negotiations have not yielded progress. Japan's blame on China is totally unreasonable," the statement said.

Asia's two largest economies, both major energy importers, have rowed over access to lucrative gas fields in the contested waters for some time.

Liu's comments came after Japan on Friday urged Beijing to be more "practical" to break the impasse, saying an agreement was currently unlikely.

"It is regrettable that the Chinese side has not made a practical and full-fledged proposal," Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura said.

"I hope China will make a concrete proposal soon by taking a stance to resolve this issue more actively," he said.

The countries have held talks about the dispute since 2004, with the latest round held in Beijing last week.

They are scheduled to negotiate again in early next month, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

China began drilling in the gas-rich area in 2003, having rejected a maritime border which Japan takes as the starting point for discussions.

Beijing says its economic zone stretches nearly as far east as Japan's Okinawa island chain.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (溫家寶), on a rare visit to Tokyo in April, called for the two countries to resolve their maritime row peacefully.

However, Beijing stands by its territorial claims.
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