China and Japan have agreed to accelerate the establishment of a maritime and aerial crisis liaison mechanism. The initiative was first agreed by the two sides in 2012, but consultations were suspended due to territorial disputes. China's Defense Ministry spokesperson Yang Yujun spoke about the latest developments at a press conference on Thursday.
"China and Japan resumed consultations on the mechanism, after a four-point consensus about handling and improving China-Japan relations was reached at the end of last year. On June the 19th, the defense departments of the two countries held a fifth round of expert consultation in Beijing. The two sides held further meetings on technical issues, and reached consensus on speeding up related preparation work for the mechanism," Yang said.
