Tokyo – December 28 (ONLINE): The defense ministers of Japan and China on Monday agreed to set up a joint communication hotline by the end of 2022, a news release from Japan’s Defense Ministry said, amid tensions between the East Asian neighbors.
China’s Defense Ministry confirmed the hotline agreement in a statement without giving a date for its implementation.
The agreement — reached during a two-hour video conference between Japan’s Nobuo Kishi and China’s Wei Fenghe — comes with their countries in dispute over Taiwan and issues in the East and South China seas.
The ministers discussed those differences during the meeting, including their competing claims to an uninhabited rocky island chain in the East China Sea controlled by Japan but which China claims as its sovereign territory.
Japan has administered the islands, known as the Senkakus in Japan and Diaoyus in China since 1972, but tensions over the chain, 1,200 miles (1,900 kilometers) southwest of Tokyo, have simmered for years.
China has been dispatching government ships, including coast guard vessels to the chain with increasing frequency, something Japan views as a challenge to its internationally recognized sovereignty over the islands.
“Minister Kishi delivered that Japan opposes attempts of unilateral change to the status quo by coercion and that Japan possesses grave concerns against such actions, while pointing out individual events such as activities by People’s Liberation Army and China Coast Guard vessels,” read a statement from Japan’s Defense Ministry released after the ministers’ meeting.
In a statement after the meeting, China stood by its sovereignty claims over the islands.
“China will firmly safeguard its territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests. The two sides should focus on the overall interests of bilateral relations and strive to maintain stability in the East China Sea,” said a release from the Defense Ministry.
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