China expressed willingness Saturday to create sound conditions for Japanese companies to invest in the country, the Xinhua news agency quoted Chinese Vice Premier Zeng Peiyan as saying during bilateral, ministerial economic talks in Beijing, according to dpa. Chinese-Japanese ties however were plagued by four main problems, he said, including a slowdown in the growth of bilateral trade, unsatisfactory business environment, obstacles to technological co- operation and fluctuating Japanese investment in China. "We should create a new pattern of economic trade cooperation, putting emphasis on both commodities and services," adding, "As the two biggest economies in Asia, China and Japan should shoulder great responsibility for global economic stability and the prosperity of east Asia," Zeng said. Making comments similar to those of the European Union earlier this week, Japan's Finance Minister Fukushiro Nukaga stressed that China must revalue its currency faster to even out trade imbalances. The lack of copyright protection, investment problems and insufficient transparency were also issues. Japanese anxieties about the business environment in China had led to a 30-per-cent drop in investments in 2006 to 4.6 billion dollars, a spokesman said. Meanwhile Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi and his Japanese counterpart, Masahiko Komura, also met Saturday in Beijing in what they termed an "improved" atmosphere towards resolving their territorial dispute in the East China Sea. A Japanese spokesman said afterwards that Japan saw an "improved" bilateral atmosphere, and with the hope for resolved differences before the upcoming visit to China by Prime Minister Yasuo Fukoda at the end of this year or in early 2008. "The atmosphere to discuss the matter has improved," the spokesman said regarding the dispute, at the core of which are oil and gas reserves in the East China Sea. Both sides aimed to intensify their talks over the agreed joint use of the natural resources. "It is a very delicate issue," the spokesman said. But after 11 rounds of talks which so far had failed to provide a solution, there was a better technical and legal understanding of the problem. The Japanese delegation suggested early April 2008 for China's President Hu Jintao visit to Tokyo - the first by a Chinese head of state in 10 years. Regarding the hope for a solution to the territorial dispute before then, the Japanese spokesman said: "We did not use it as a precondition for the visit of the prime minister. "It is important to find some concrete way to make progress," the spokesman said. At Saturday's meeting the two countries signed an agreement in which Japan is to provide China credit worth some 400 million dollars to support environmental projects. Since 1979, Japan has provided development assistance to China totalling some 30 billion dollars worth of credits. The talks on Saturday were the largest-ever, ministerial-level meetings since China and Japan established diplomatic ties 35 years ago. Six members of the Japanese cabinet travelled from Tokyo for the meeting. It was the first such meeting since China and Japan agreed in October to conduct regular economic discussions. Political observers in Beijing said Saturday's meeting stressed the improvement in ties which had virtually hit rock-bottom in 2006 under former Japanese premier Junichiro Koizumi. China had been angered by his visits to the Yasukuni war memorial, where a number of convicted war criminals who were responsible for atrocities by Japanese forces occupying China during World War II, are commemorated.
