China, Japan reach principled consensus on East China Sea issue

Source: Xinhua  |   2008-6-18  |     ONLINE EDITION

CHINA and Japan, through consultations on an equal footing, reached principled consensus on the East China Sea issue, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu made the announcement today.

The announcement included the following three parts:

I. Cooperation Between China and Japan in the East China Sea

In order to make the East China Sea, of which the delimitation between China and Japan is yet to be made, a "sea of peace, cooperation and friendship", China and Japan have, in keeping with the common understanding reached by leaders of the two countries in April 2007 and their new common understanding reached in December 2007, agreed through serious consultations that the two sides will conduct cooperation in the transitional period prior to delimitation without prejudicing their respective legal positions. The two sides have taken the first step to this end and will continue to conduct consultations in the future.

II. Understanding Between China and Japan on Joint Development of the East China Sea

As the first step in the joint development of the East China Sea between China and Japan, the two sides will work on the following:

(a) The block for joint development shall be the area that is bounded by straight lines joining the following points in the order listed:

1. Latitude 29o31' North, longitude 125o53'30" East

2. Latitude 29o49' North, longitude 125o53'30" East

3. Latitude 30o04' North, longitude 126o03'45" East

4. Latitude 30o00' North, longitude 126o10'23" East

5. Latitude 30o00' North, longitude 126o20'00" East

6. Latitude 29o55' North, longitude 126o26'00" East

7. Latitude 29o31' North, longitude 126o26'00" East

(Eds: The letter "o" in the above location points should be converted to the superscript of a small circle, the symbol of degree.)