Both China and Japan hope to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on the maritime and aerial crisis liaison mechanism and launch the mechanism at an early date, military officials from the two countries said in Singapore Friday.

The hope was expressed by Chinese Vice Chief of Staff of the PLA Sun Jianguo and Tokuchi Hideshi, director general of the Japanese Defense Ministry's Defense Policy Bureau when they held a meeting in Singapore on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue.

China attaches great importance to the development of Sino- Japan relations and pays high attention to Japan's attitude on historical issues, said Sun, expressing hope that the two sides would continue defense exchanges and cooperation, strengthen mutual understanding, and enhance management and control over contradictions and crisis.

China is willing to work with Japan to promote the good- neighborly relations and cooperation, and earnestly safeguard the hard-won progress in the improvement of bilateral ties on the basis of the four political documents reached between the two countries, said Sun.

For his part, Tokuchi said the Japanese government's stance on historical issues has not changed.

He admitted that there are difficulties and differences in the Sino-Japan relations and Japan is willing to make efforts to improve the bilateral ties.

The two countries' cooperation in the defense and security field would benefit the development of bilateral ties, he added.

Organized by the Britain-based International Institute for Strategic Studies, the Shangri-La Dialogue, widely recognized as Asia-Pacific's foremost defense and security summit, brings together defense ministers, senior officials and security experts to exchange views on key issues that shape the defense and security landscape of the region.

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