A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said in Beijing Thursday that Japan has accepted the proposal made by China - at the third round of China-Japan consultations on the East China Sea issue - to jointly develop East China Sea resources.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang made the remarks at a routine press conference. He added that the two sides have not yet dealt with details such as size of investments and the distribution of interests.

He also denied reports by some Japanese media that Japan will offer investment funds for oil and gas exploration projects and that the two sides have reached agreement on the distribution of oil and gas resources.

"It is not true," Qin said.

China and Japan held the third round of consultations on the East China Sea issue in Tokyo from Sept. 30 to Oct. 1. The two sides exchanged views on the demarcation of the East China Sea and the possibility of launching joint sea resource development projects.

The second round was held in Beijing in May 2005. The two parties had an in-depth exchange of views on launching negotiations about the demarcation of the continental shelf of the East China Sea and promoting the joint development of marine resources in the area.

The two sides agreed to peacefully resolve the issue in line with the consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries during their meeting in Jakarta.

Source: Xinhua