Japan and China agreed in ministerial talks Friday to move forward speedily with a June deal on joint gas exploration in the disputed East China Sea, but they failed to narrow differences over China's continued unilateral activities in areas set for further negotiation, Foreign Ministry officials said.
Foreign Minister Hirofumi Nakasone and visiting Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wang Guangya also reaffirmed the importance of continuing from last year the frequent mutual visits of the nations' leaders.
Earlier Friday, Wang reached similar agreements with his Japanese counterpart, Mitoji Yabunaka, when they met in the ninth round of Japan-China strategic dialogue.
The two vice ministers also affirmed stronger economic cooperation amid the global financial crisis and agreed to continue working together on the issue of food safety.
Friday's talks came amid tensions, in otherwise improving bilateral relations, over China's tapping of gas fields in the East China Sea where Japan's and China's claims overlap.
"We shared, in principle, the basic common understanding of the importance of taking the June agreement seriously and to proceed speedily with working-level talks to draw up the details," a senior ministry official said.
But the official implicitly acknowledged there remains a significant gap between Tokyo and Beijing over whether China should keep drilling in disputed areas on which the two sides agreed to continue negotiations.
Under the deal in June, which marked a breakthrough toward solving the long-standing dispute, the two sides agreed to jointly explore an area near the Japan-claimed median line and to continue talks over two other gas fields.