China and Japan on Tuesday conducted the first round of negotiation on the implementation of the principles of consensus concerning the East China Sea issue.

Present at the talks were Ning Fukui, director general of the Chinese Foreign Ministry's Boundary and Ocean Affairs Department, and Akitaka Saiki, director general of the Japanese Foreign Ministry's Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau, Natural Resources.

In a positive, candid and practical atmosphere, the two sides exchanged views on the implementation of the principles of consensus.

And the two sides agreed to make concerted efforts to gradually accelerate the process of implementing the principles of consensus through friendly consultations and attain the common goal of turning the East China Sea into a sea of "peace, cooperation and friendship."

The decision to hold the negotiation was made by Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi and his Japanese counterpart Okada Katsuya after a meeting on the sidelines of the ASEAN Ministerial Meeting in Hanoi, according to a press release from the Chinese Foreign Ministry Thursday. 

U.S. involvement will only complicate South China Sea issue

BEIJING, July 27 (Xinhua) -- The United States has played up the South China Sea issue again in the international arena.

At the ASEAN Regional Forum Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Hanoi last week, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton talked at length about U.S. "national interests" in the South China Sea.

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