By DPA
Beijing : China and Japan held an eighth round of formal talks Friday aimed at resolving differences over exploitation of oil and gas fields in the East China Sea.
The talks come amid a recent thaw in ties between the two countries and a commitment by Chinese and Japanese leaders last month to agree on firm proposals by the end of this year for resolving the long dispute.
Chinese foreign ministry official Hu Zhengyue and his Japanese counterpart Kenichiro Sasae led the two delegations in talks at Beijing's Diaoyutai State Guesthouse Friday, the Chinese government said.
During talks in Japan last month, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao agreed to speed up talks over possible joint development of oil and gas fields in a "relatively wide area that is acceptable to both sides."
Abe is scheduled to discuss the dispute with Chinese President Hu Jintao next month during a meeting on the sidelines of the Group of Eight (G8) summit in Heiligendamm in Germany, Japanese media reported Thursday.
Formal talks began in 2004 on resolving the dispute over oil and gas resources in the East China Sea.
At the seventh round of talks in April in Tokyo, China put forward a plan for joint development in the disputed waters, but no details were released.