Japan, China in informal talks to resolve island spat: reports

JAPANESE media reported yesterday that former prime minister Yasuo Fukuda had met in secret with China President Xi Jinping in Beijing recently, fuelling speculation that some form of compromise might be in the offing between Japan and China over their dispute over ownership of the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea.

Kyodo news service reported that Mr Fukuda met Mr Xi when he visited China late last month and the leading business daily, Nihon Keizai Shimbun, said that "Japan and China are trying to arrange two-way talks between their leaders during the Apec summit in Beijing in November".

The stakes in such a meeting are very high since they could set the stage for a possible rapprochement between East Asia's two biggest powers whose mutual relations have been strained to the point of possible confrontation in recent times, analysts said.