China, Japan premiers agree hotline after naval incidents

The premiers of China and Japan agreed Monday to set up a hotline following a series of tense naval incidents, and to resume formal talks on jointly exploring offshore gas and oil fields.

Japan and China, the world's second- and third-biggest economies, are rivals for resources and have competing claims to parts of the East China Sea.

Premier Wen Jiabao met his Japanese counterpart Yukio Hatoyama in Tokyo weeks after Chinese naval helicopters twice buzzed Japanese destroyers, and a Chinese marine survey ship pursued a Japanese coastguard vessel.

Read more