ABSTRACT
Building an East Asian community, even one of shared means, can be effected only through Sino-Japanese cooperation. If so, China and Japan should engage in functional cooperation firstly on an economic front, through constructing rules-based free trade agreements (FTAs) or economic partnership agreements (EPAs). Secondly on non-traditional challenges such as guaranteeing energy supplies and ensuring energy security such as forming a consumer's energy cartel. And thirdly on social issues such as promoting environmental conservation and trade in new or "green" energy technologies. Cooperation can then be extended to security matters. Environmental and energy conservation are seen as areas for mutually beneficial cooperative projects between China-Japan. China and Japan will continue to be heavily dependent on fossil fuels in the coming decades, even with proactive efforts to promote renewable energy. The Japanese delegation included Mr Yukio Edano, Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry; Mr Goshi Hosono, Minister of the Environment; and Mr Fujio Cho, Chairman of the Japan-China Economic.
