Japan and China will hold talks on disputed undersea gas deposits next week in Beijing, a Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said Wednesday.
The two countries plan a two-day meeting beginning Monday, to be attended by Kenichiro Sasae, head of the Foreign Ministry's Asia-Oceania Bureau, and his Chinese counterpart, Hu Zhengyao, a ministry spokeswoman said on condition of anonymity, citing protocol.
Natural Resources and Energy Agency chief Nobuyori Kodaira also will attend.
The two energy-hungry nations want control of oil and gas deposits in the East China Sea in an area that both say falls within their exclusive economic zones.
The two sides met a month ago in Beijing, where they agreed only to continue negotiations to resolve the dispute. Earlier talks also failed to produce a settlement.
During the upcoming meeting, Japanese officials expect the Chinese side to respond to Tokyo's proposal for joint exploration, made during the Sept. 30-Oct.1 talks, the Foreign Ministry said.
China has extracted gas from one field, triggering protests from Japan, which fears the reserves might run dry.
Under the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea, coastal nations can claim an economic zone extending 200 nautical miles from their shores.
Japan and China signed the treaty, but their claims overlap the disputed area.