Last week China and Japan announced an agreement for joint development of a gas field in the East China Sea which had been a major source of long term tension, while China and Taiwan held their first formal talks in a decade this month.
These developments are potentially important for broader regional cooperation.
Responding to Kevin Rudd’s “Asia Pacific Community” speech, Qin Gang, spokesperson for China’s Foreign ministry said:
It is the trend of the contemporary times to strengthen regional cooperation. We hope relevant countries in the Asia-Pacific region can work together and have more exchanges so as to build up political mutual trust, deepen cooperation of mutual benefit, promote common development and share win-win progress. We are open to every proposal conducive to this goal.
True to his word.
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