Premier Wen Jiabao and his Japanese counterpart Naoto Kan held informal talks on Saturday following the latest flare-up between the two countries over the contested islands in the East China Sea, the Financial Times reported. Wen and Kan spoke for about 10 minutes on the sidelines of the East Asia Summit in Vietnam. A day earlier, Chinese officials cancelled plans for a full summit meeting and accused Japan of “violating Chinese sovereignty and territorial integrity.” US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, also speaking at the summit, offered to host a trilateral meeting with her Chinese and Japanese counterparts in order to ease tensions. Clinton was earlier rebuked by Beijing over remarks that appeared to take Japan’s side in the dispute. China and Japan have long been at odds over the Diaoyu Islands (known by Japan as the Senkaku Islands). The latest tensions initially arose when Japan detained a Chinese fisherman near the islands lasts month.
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