After A Decade Of Talks, China And Japan Have Agreed To Set Up A Hotline

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, right, shakes hands with Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at the start of their bilateral talks yesterday at Akasaka Palace state guest house in Tokyo. Picture: Kim Kyung-Hoon/Reuters

Japan Times/The Yomiuri Shimbun: Japan-China hotline aimed at averting air, sea conflicts

A formal agreement between Japan and China to launch a “maritime and air liaison mechanism” aimed at averting accidental clashes between the Self-Defense Forces and the Chinese military was apparently prompted by their eagerness to prevent provocations from developing into full-blown military confrontations.

The Japanese and Chinese governments agreed on the terms without specifying the geographical range of the mechanism, given the issue over the Senkaku Islands in Okinawa Prefecture.

Ambiguities remain over how to operate the mechanism, making its success an uncertainty.

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Update #1: Japan and China agree on security hotline after a decade of talks (Reuters)
Update #2: China and Japan agree to set up hotline to prevent military clashes (SCMP)

WNU Editor: They have agreed in principle to set up the hotline, but differences still remain on the scope and issues that the hotline will cover.