China has positive attitude toward resolving gas field row+

BEIJING, March 7 Kyodo -
China has a positive attitude toward addressing a dispute with Japan over gas
field development in the East China Sea, Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said
Sunday.
''The attitude of China is positive, not negative,'' Yang said at a press
conference on the sidelines of the annual session of the National People's
Congress, China's parliament.
''It is our consistent position that differences between the two countries over
the issue of the East China Sea should be properly handled through
consultations and negotiations in order to uphold our strategic relationship
with mutual benefits,'' he said.
Yang said the two countries should observe the spirit of a joint development
agreement their governments struck in June 2008 and they should ''work to
foster favorable conditions for effective implementation'' of the accord so as
to turn the East China Sea into ''a sea of peace, friendship and cooperation.''
Japan has proposed the gas field row be resolved by launching a pact detailing
how to implement the 2008 agreement. But China has yet to respond to the
proposal, saying the two governments should continue talks on the issue.
Despite the gas field dispute, Yang said the world's second- and third-largest
economies see ''bright prospects'' in developing a mutually beneficial
strategic relationship.
In addition to tie-ups in traditional fields, the two countries face new
opportunities in cooperating in areas such as energy, the environment and new
high technologies, Yang said.
''The two countries should work together to contribute to the revitalization of
Asia,'' an engine of the world's economic growth, he added.
Yang backed Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama's call for creating an East
Asian community for closer regional cooperation, saying China is ''open and
positive'' about any initiative to spur ''regional integration, deeper mutual
political trust, practical cooperation and common development.''
But the foreign minister repeated Beijing's position the 10-member Association
of Southeast Asian Nations should play a leading role in future regional
cooperation, along with Japan, China and South Korea.
Japan, in contrast, envisages a wider group including Australia, India, New
Zealand and, possibly, the United States.
Touching on U.S.-China relations, Yang criticized Washington's $6.4 billion
weapons package for Taiwan, which Beijing considers its territory, and a
meeting between U.S. President Barack Obama and Tibetan spiritual leader the
Dalai Lama, saying China ''firmly opposed to these moves.''
The U.S. actions have ''caused serious disturbances to China-U.S. ties and
posed difficulty for cooperation between the two countries,'' he said. ''The
responsibility for the difficulty in China-U.S. relationship does not lie with
China.''
''What is pressing now is that the United States should take seriously China's
position and respect China's core interests and major concerns with credible
steps'' so as to ''return China-U.S. relationship to the track of a stable
development,'' he said.
On the Iranian nuclear standoff, Yang indicated opposition against Western
powers' efforts to introduce a new set of sanctions against Iran.
''We don't think diplomatic efforts have been exhausted,'' he said. ''Pressure
and sanction cannot resolve this issue in a fundamental way.''
Similarly, Yang called for increased diplomatic efforts and patience among
regional powers toward a resumption of the six-party talks on North Korea's
nuclear programs.
China's top nuclear negotiator Wu Dawei has said China, host of the talks
involving North and South Korea, Japan, Russia and the United States, wants to
resume the stalled dialogue ''in the first half of this year.''
==Kyodo