China, Japan Reach Four-point Agreement on Ties

China and Japan have reached a four-point agreement-in-principle on bilateral relations.

China's Foreign Ministry announced the consensus after a meeting on Friday between State Councilor Yang Jiechi and Japan's visiting National Security Advisor Shotaro Yachi.

Among the four points, both sides acknowledged that "different positions exist between them" regarding the recent tensions over the Diaoyu Islands and some waters in the East China Sea, and agreed to prevent further aggravation.

The two sides also reached some agreement on overcoming "political obstacles" in bilateral relations in the spirit of "facing history squarely and looking forward to the future."

Meanwhile, the two sides have agreed to gradually resume political, diplomatic and security dialogue through various multilateral and bilateral channels and to make efforts to build political trust.

Also, the two sides will follow the principles and spirit of the existing four political documents between the two countries and continue to develop the China-Japan strategic relationship.

Qu Xing, head of the China Institute of International Studies, interprets the four points as a gradual process with a logistic connection.

"I think the four-point agreement represents the political base, the history, the reality and the future of Sino-Japan relations respectively. The four points have a logical connection. Only by insisting on the political base, clarifying the historical issues and controlling the current disputes, can we achieve better future Sino-Japan relations through dialogue."

At the same time, Qu views the four-point consensus as a significant step forward, reassuring the future of Sino-Japan relations.

"Despite the crises between China and Japan in the past two years, both sides have overcome difficulties by viewing bilateral relations from a political level"

Gao Hong, deputy director of the Japan Studies Institute at the Chinese Academy of Social Science, also applauds the agreement-in-principle.

"I think it is very important to see both sides for the very first time, to state very cleary about the bilateral territorial disputes in the agreement-in-principle and actually put them down on paper."

Meanwhile, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang has called on the Japanese side to create an "enabling environment" for contact between the leaders of the two countries.

Qin made the remarks when taking a question on Japanese reports saying that the leaders will meet during the APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting in Beijing.

Source: CRI