Japan, China to discuss disputed gas field in July

TOKYO, June 30 (Reuters) Japan and China will hold talks in Beijing early next month to try to resolve differences over a disputed natural gas field in the East China Sea.

The talks -- originally expected to take place this month -- will be held on July 8-9, Japan's Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

In May, Japan said it was considering joint use of the gas field with China after Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso and his Chinese counterpart Li Zhaoxing discussed the issue in a rare meeting on the sidelines of an Asian summit in Doha, Qatar.

Ties between Beijing and Tokyo have deteriorated since Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi took office five years ago and began annual visits to the Yasukuni Shrine for war dead, seen by China and South Korea as a symbol of past Japanese militarism.

The dispute over the gas field has also soured relations.

The two countries disagree over the position of the border between their exclusive economic zones in the East China Sea, and Japan has expressed concern that energy-hungry China's development of the area could tap into its own zone.

A Chinese industry newspaper, the China Offshore Oil Press, said in its June 21 edition that China had completed a production test for typhoon conditions and returned to normal production testing of the gas field.

REUTERS SBA KN1135