Chief Cabinet Secretary Takeo Kawamura said recently,

The Japanese government has conveyed that such unilateral development by the Chinese side is unacceptable and regrettable. We have lodged protests over the matter.

To this, the Chinese Foreign Ministry claims

Gas fields such as Tianwaitian are located in waters controlled by China that are not under dispute. China’s development activities in such gas fields constitute the exercising of its sovereign right.

This issue has the potential to escalate and into more than just official complaints. It is a serious issue. China’s reference to the issue of sovereignty and how this is ultimately resolved has potential implications for all other sensitive border and sovereignty troubles, namely: India, Taiwan, Russia, Vietnam and even Tibet. Hopefully the Strategic Dialogue meeting today will lead to a resolution.

The Strategic Dialogue meeting is conducted at the Vice Ministerial level, not between Foreign Ministers. The High Level Economic Dialogue, the first ever of which was conducted in 2007, includes both Foreign Ministers. This recognition of the importance of the China-Japan economic relationship was overdue.

Tokyo and Beijing have been growing closer since that period which saw no leadership visits for 6 years from 2001. Indeed, the Strategic Dialogue was launched in 2005 in the middle of the ‘frozen period’ of Sino-Japan relations.

If both Foreign Ministers are now meeting under the guise of a High Level Economic Dialogue, perhaps the time has come for them to beef up the Strategic Dialogue.

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