MOSCOW, November 16 (Sputnik) — The actions of Chinese ships illegally trading corals around Ogasawara islands are sorrowful, and Beijing has to cooperate in resolving this issue by all means, Japan's Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida said Sunday.
"Efforts and cooperation from the two sides [China and Japan] are needed to resolve the problem," Kishida said on NHK Japanese TV-channel.
According to the minister, the Japanese side provided Chinese authorities with videotapes and photos, confirming illegal actions of China's ships.
Kishida pointed out the extreme importance of bilateral cooperation on the emergency prevention and elaboration of communication network for this purpose.
The issue of the illegal coral trade around Ogasawara and Izu islands has been raised several times at the consultations between Tokyo and Beijing. Japanese authorities claim that last week 145 Chinese ships were noticed in Japan's waters. It is difficult to implement active prevention measures because of the remoteness of the Japanese maritime security service bases.
