EDITORIAL: Japan-China gas project

In what could be a step toward resolving a long-standing dispute, Japan and China agreed Monday to soon start negotiations on a treaty concerning joint gas field development in the East China Sea. There will be many hurdles to clear along the way, but this is at least a welcome start.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao proposed, during Monday's meeting in Tokyo with Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, that the negotiations begin "as soon as possible." Wen's proposal came as a surprise.

Japan and China agreed in June 2008 to jointly develop undersea gas fields in the East China Sea, and Japan insisted that the two countries begin negotiating toward a treaty. But China remained unresponsive.

Chinese public opinion at the time was vehemently opposed to such negotiations. It is believed that Beijing also took into consideration the wishes of the People's Liberation Army, which was leery of cooperating with Japan.

Tokyo's mistrust deepened when it appeared that China was expanding an existing structure at the Shirakaba gas field, the Chinese name of which is Chunxiao and in which Japanese corporations had invested.

In April, Hatoyama met with Chinese President Hu Jintao in Washington and asked him to "personally issue instructions to the parties in charge," but Hu remained noncommittal.

What brought about Beijing's unexpected change of mind Monday remains unclear. For Hatoyama, whose administration is now in deep trouble, this may have been a rare diplomatic coup.

But obviously, helping Hatoyama out could not have been Beijing's motive. The most likely explanation is that Hu and Wen, who value diplomatic ties with Japan, must have finally managed to sort out matters at home.

We welcome Beijing's positive move. However, Wen made no specific proposal as to the time and place of the start of the talks.

There is no doubt that reaching an accord on joint development and investment will be anything but easy. There may be another eruption of negative public opinion in China.

Moreover, the ongoing personnel reshuffles in anticipation of the 2012 congress of the Chinese Communist Party could affect the nation's Japan policy. And the beleaguered Hatoyama administration is hardly in a position to commit fully to China diplomacy.

The exploration of East China Sea resources is an issue that can trigger intense nationalistic sentiments because the exclusive economic zones (EEZs) of Japan and China overlap in those waters.

But this is precisely why the two nations need to look at the big picture and make compromises for profit-sharing so that Japan-China ties may develop stably over the long term.

Regarding maritime issues, Hatoyama complained to Wen about Chinese navy helicopters that flew inordinately close to Japan's Maritime Self-Defense Force destroyers. Wen did not answer Hatoyama directly, but the two leaders agreed to establish before long a mechanism for crisis management at sea. They also agreed to establish an emergency hotline as proposed by Wen.

Regarding the March 26 sinking of the South Korean warship Cheonan, it appears that China has not changed its cautious position on this matter. Before this issue goes to the United Nations Security Council, Japan should try harder to influence China in close collaboration with the United States and South Korea.

--The Asahi Shimbun, June 1