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A group of experts from both foreign and domestic civil think tanks said during a conference in Beijing on Tuesday that China and Japan should increase their level of mutual trust to prevent any potential crisis in the East China Sea.

Experts discuss how to set up a crisis control system in the East China Sea amid a tense China-Japan relationship during a conference in Beijing on March 31, 2015. [China.org.cn]

Hong Yuan, a researcher from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and a member of the civil think tank the Charhar Institute, said that China and Japan should enhance mutual trust in the realms of culture, diplomacy, politics and state leadership. Only when strategic mutual trust has been reached will both states be able to solve any crisis effectively.

Mathieu Duchatel, head China representative and senior researcher from independent international institute the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), said that as the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II approaches, the results of China's dialogue and negotiations with Japan may depend on historical and political influences rather than on any fundamental technical or structural differences between the two countries' armies.

When the Japanese government attempted to purchase the Diaoyu Islands from a private party in September 2012, China and Japan entered one of the most strained phases of Sino-Japanese relations in the post-war period in terms of the risk of militarized conflict. On Nov. 23, 2013, China set up the "East China Sea Air Defense Identification Zone," which includes the Diaoyu Islands. In the latest development, in January 2015, Japan and China agreed to create a special communication mechanism to avoid unintended naval and air clashes.

Mathieu Duchatel, head China representative and senior researcher from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, speaks at a roundtable on East China Sea crisis control in Beijing on March 31, 2015. [China.org.cn]

"The risks of East China Seas conflicts between China and Japan really exists," Duchatel said at a Tuesday round-table on East China Sea crisis control organized by the Charhar Institute, SIPRI and Chinese naval policy and strategy civil think tank ihaiyang.com.cn. "It is especially necessary to build a crisis control mechanism," Duchatel continued.

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