Japan, China to work together on creating 'East Asia community'

SHANGHAI (Kyodo) Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada and his Chinese counterpart, Yang Jiechi, agreed Monday that the two countries will work together toward the creation of an "East Asian community" for closer regional cooperation.

Okada expressed the hope that the initiative will make the 21st century the "era of Asia."

During talks in Shanghai, Okada and Yang did not discuss details of the envisaged community, such as which countries would be invited to join, but Yang said China would want the grouping to promote regional cooperation in energy and the environment, according to a Foreign Ministry official.

Okada and Yang also agreed to advance the two nations' "strategic and mutually beneficial relations" and to continue addressing pending issues such as food safety and the dispute over developing gas fields in the East China Sea, the official said.

Okada requested that the two countries forge a pact embodying details of how to implement a joint development agreement the two governments struck in June 2008, according to the official.

Referring to the East Asian community concept, Okada was quoted as saying, "It is important that Japan and China, and Japan, China and South Korea, work together and cooperate" in advancing the initiative.

Stressing that China was the first country to advocate such an initiative, Yang said, "A growing number of countries are throwing their support behind the idea of an East Asian community. . . . We want to promote cooperation also on energy and the environment (along with the economy) in East Asia," according to the official.

The idea of an East Asian community has been drawing more attention since Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama floated it during a meeting with Chinese President Hu Jintao in New York last week.

On the bilateral dispute over gas development in the East China Sea, Okada was quoted as telling Yang that concluding a pact would benefit both countries.

Yang did not respond to the request, but instead asked Okada to "create an environment to realize last year's agreement," the Japanese official said without elaborating.

Yang was also quoted as saying that China wants to solve the issue through joint efforts by the two countries.