Optimism on Sino-Japan gas reserve dispute

A dispute over the ownership of gas reserves in the East China Sea could be settled between China and Japan before Hu Jintao’s visit to Tokyo in the spring, China’s ambassador to Japan said on Friday, the Financial Times reported. Ambassador Cui Tiankai said it should be possibile to come up with a "practical formula" for the two countries to explore for oil along a demarcation line equidistant from the two countries. The two countries missed an autumn deadline to reach an agreement on joint exploration of the sea, but Japanese prime minister Yasuo Fukuda’s visit to Beijing last month was a further breakthrough, said a Japanese official.