Japan aims to smooth ties with China via dialogue

TOKYO, Friday (Reuters) Japan pledged on Friday not to let a series of disputes with China hinder their relationship and said Tokyo would seek to deepen mutual understanding and trust with Beijing through dialogue.

Ties between the Asian neighbours are at new lows due to disagreements over a range of topics, including what China sees as Japan's failure to acknowledge wartime atrocities, and a spat over energy projects in the East China Sea.

"We must deepen mutual understanding and trust through dialogue and not allow individual issues to become an obstacle to the development of the overall Japan-China relationship," the Foreign Ministry said in an annual diplomatic report.

"We will seek to expand mutual benefits through strengthening cooperation in a wide range of areas." The ministry said Japan must prevent a recurrence of an intrusion into its waters by a Chinese submarine in November.

Simmering tensions between the two countries erupted in China last weekend with thousands joining protests that turned violent.

The situation worsened this week after Japan decided to allow gas exploration in a disputed area of the East China Sea, a move China denounced as a "serious provocation".

Beijing says Tokyo is at fault for its mishandling of concerns over history textbooks while Japan wants China to accept the blame for letting the weekend protests get out of hand.

But Japan has stressed the need for dialogue as the only way to solve the disputes, and its foreign minister, Nobutaka Machimura, will go to Beijing on Sunday for talks.

"It is meaningful to talk when there are various problems ... I hope it would be the first step towards a better relationship," Machimura told reporters on Friday.

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi is also expected to meet Chinese President Hu Jintao on the sidelines of an Asia-Africa summit in Jakarta next week.

Bilateral relations, long beleaguered by disputes over history and rivalry for leadership in Asia, took a turn for the worse after Koizumi came into power in 2001 and began visiting Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine, where convicted war criminals are honoured along with Japan's war dead.