Japan's commitment vital to success in maritime talks with China

Good faith from Japan is essential to the success of this week's meeting and to the prospects of such talks, given the fact that they had been disrupted thanks to Japan's irresponsible moves.

The mechanism of high-level consultations on maritime affairs between the two countries was launched in 2012. After several rounds of successful talks, the talks were suspended after the Japanese government's so-called "nationalization" of China's Diaoyu Islands in the East China Sea in September 2012.

As tension was built up, Japan took a hardline position and sent its warplanes to interfere with China's regular operations, posing grave threats to both sides' safety and escalating tension in the East China Sea.

In June last year, two Japanese F-15 jets deliberately tailed a Chinese Tu-154 plane, coming as near as 30 meters as the Chinese plane conducted a routine patrol over the East China Sea.

The Japanese government's plan to amend the country's pacifist constitution and push for weapon exports, as well as its attempts to whitewash war atrocities in World War II have also sounded alarm to the region and the world.

There is still a long way to go to secure peace and stability in the region. The Shinzo Abe administration needs to abandon such dangerous moves above and start fostering favorable conditions for bilateral dialogue and for the improvement of relations with China, for the sake of the two peoples and the region at large.