China and Japan, in sign of a thaw, agree to disagree on disputed island group

BEIJING — Signaling a potential thaw in their long-frozen relations, China and Japan announced Friday that they would talk to each other about their competing claims to islands in the East China Sea and to gradually resume diplomatic and security discussions.

With that step, the leaders of both countries gave the first public declaration that they are trying to roll back a prolonged standoff that has inflamed nationalist sentiments, damaged economic ties and at times appeared to bring them close to military conflict.

The agreement was announced in similarly worded statements by both sides acknowledging that “different positions exist” over the islands known in China as the Diaoyu and in Japan as the Senkaku.

Even acknowledging differences counts as something of a breakthrough in the standoff. Japan has long declined to discuss China’s claim to sovereignty over the islands, which Tokyo has controlled since the end of World War II.

China has grown bolder in asserting its claim by making unilateral declarations about control of airspace and sending fishing boats and other vessels to test Japan’s resolve to defend the remote islands, raising fears of a broader conflict.

The adversaries said they had agreed to overcome political obstacles in the spirit of “facing history squarely and looking forward to the future," while also creating “crisis management mechanisms” to help prevent any escalation in the future.

The diplomatic overture has special significance because of the timing: Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan and President Xi Jinping of China are expected to meet next week in Beijing at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, which began Wednesday. Before the statements, the question hanging over the event was whether the leaders of the world’s second and third largest economies would simply shake hands.

Now, there is hope that the Beijing moment could provide for a breakthrough at the forum for world leaders, which begins Monday.

The accord, which had been the subject of negotiations for some time, was completed in Beijing on Thursday in a meeting between Japan’s national security adviser, Shotaro Yachi, and China’s chief diplomat, State Councilor Yang Jiechi, according to a Japanese official who spoke on the condition of anonymity in keeping with diplomatic protocol.