Japan PM: China vessels still intruding in water

Chinese government vessels are still intruding into Japanese territorial waters around contested islands, but the door to dialogue with Beijing is always open, Japan's prime minister said Friday, AP reported. The Asian powers' conflicting claims to the remote islands, called Senkaku by Japan and Diaoyu by China, have badly strained relations. China says it, too, is ready to talk, but only if Japan formally acknowledges disputed sovereignty. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Japan would make no concession on sovereignty over the Japanese-administered islands. But he said Japan does not intend to escalate the issue, and both nations have responsibility to maintain regional peace. He said the relationship with China is one of Japan's most important, and they have "inseparable" economic ties. "The door to dialogue is always open, and I really hope that the Chinese side will take a similar attitude and have the same mindset," Abe told a news conference after attending the annual gathering of world leaders at the United Nations. He said their differences warrant "a good discussion among high-ranking officers of both governments.