China, Japan hold talks on maritime affairs

Shanghai Dec 6 (IANS) China and Japan have agreed to more communication between their defence authorities and have made positive progress on building an air and maritime contact system.

The agreement was reached during the eighth round of high-level consultations on maritime affairs between various government departments from the two countries held from December 5-6 in Shanghai Xinhua news agency reported.

They agreed to expand information exchanges to jointly crack down on transnational crimes such as smuggling and drug trafficking.

The two sides pledged to cooperate more in maritime search and rescue as well as marine geology. They agreed to hold a meeting of experts to discuss marine garbage in 2018.

China and Japan also exchanged views on the East China Sea issue and agreed to hold the ninth round of high-level consultations on maritime affairs in Japan in the first half of next year.

--IANS
umer/pgh/