China, Japan seek to ease oil dispute

China and Japan held informal talks on Monday about how to develop oil and gas resources in disputed areas of the East China Sea, one of several sources of tension between them, but agreed only to meet again.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang said last week that China and Japan, the world’s second- and third-largest consumers of crude oil, had agreed in principle to develop the area jointly but Tokyo says they are still far apart on details.