Japan and China, Asia's two biggest energy users, agreed to hold annual ministerial-level talks as they seek to repair relations strained by territorial disputes over oil and gas fields.
"Cooperation between Asia's two largest energy consumers will contribute to market stability," Japanese Trade Minister Akira Amari told reporters in Beijing yesterday after holding talks with Ma Kai (馬凱), head of China's National Development and Reform Commission, the country's top economic planning body.
The two nations have sparred over energy rights in the East China Sea, which may contain as much as 200 billion cubic meters of gas. The talks came a day after the countries joined an energy summit with the US, India and South Korea where China announced that it would award a US$5.3 billion nuclear reactor contract to Tokyo-based Westinghouse Electric Co.
The five nations, which account for almost half of global energy consumption, agreed yesterday to cooperate on promoting energy conservation and the use of alternatives such as nuclear power. The summit will become an annual event, Amari said yesterday, with Japan and China planning to hold separate, annual talks.
Asia's two largest economies disagree over their sea border, with China claiming its territory extends to the end of the continental shelf, while Japan regards the border as the half-way point between the countries' shores.
The Japanese government lodged a formal protest over China's drilling near the disputed area on Nov. 2, a day after discovering the activity, Cabinet Secretary Yasuhisa Shiozaki said on Nov. 8. that China had rejected Japan's request to halt production.
In July, the two governments agreed to form expert groups to settle the dispute. Technical and legal representatives are expected to discuss issues including the development of gas and oil deposits.
Westinghouse Electric on Saturday won a contract to build four nuclear power reactors in China, making it the first Japanese company to be asked to build reactors in the world's fastest-growing major economy.
China, which wants to get 4 percent of its power from nuclear energy by 2020 from about 2.3 percent now, needs to build about 30 reactors to meet the target.
"It's good news for us," Amari said yesterday at a briefing.
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Nine retired generals from Taiwan, Japan and the US have been invited to participate in a tabletop exercise hosted by the Taipei School of Economics and Political Science Foundation tomorrow and Wednesday that simulates a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan in 2030, the foundation said yesterday. The five retired Taiwanese generals would include retired admiral Lee Hsi-min (李喜明), joined by retired US Navy admiral Michael Mullen and former chief of staff of the Japan Self-Defense Forces general Shigeru Iwasaki, it said. The simulation aims to offer strategic insights into regional security and peace in the Taiwan Strait, it added. Foundation chair Huang Huang-hsiung
PUBLIC WARNING: The two students had been tricked into going to Hong Kong for a ‘high-paying’ job, which sent them to a scam center in Cambodia Police warned the public not to trust job advertisements touting high pay abroad following the return of two college students over the weekend who had been trafficked and forced to work at a cyberscam center in Cambodia. The two victims, surnamed Lee (李), 18, and Lin (林), 19, were interviewed by police after landing in Taiwan on Saturday. Taichung’s Chingshui Police Precinct said in a statement yesterday that the two students are good friends, and Lin had suspended her studies after seeing the ad promising good pay to work in Hong Kong. Lee’s grandfather on Thursday reported to police that Lee had sent
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