Japan and China are unlikely to settle a long-running spat over rival claims to lucrative gas fields during a planned visit by Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda to Beijing, ministers said Tuesday.
"I feel it is extremely unlikely that (an agreement) would be reached when the prime minister visits China," said Japanese Trade Minister Akira Amari.
"If we are to reach an agreement during talks between national leaders, it is necessary to resolve differences almost completely at working-level talks. We haven't reached that stage yet," he told reporters.
According to Japanese media, Fukuda will visit China on December 27 for his first summit with Chinese President Hu Jintao, although there has been no official confirmation of the planned trip.
Japan and China, two of the world's largest energy importers, are locked in a disagreement over drilling rights in the energy-rich East China Sea.
Eleven previous rounds of talks on the issue since 2004 have failed to reach a breakthrough.
"Unfortunately there has been no progress. This is an issue that can only be solved by a significant political decision," said Japanese Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura.
China began drilling in the gas-rich area in 2003, having rejected a maritime border that Japan takes as the starting point for discussions.
Beijing says its economic zone stretches nearly as far east as Japan's Okinawa island chain.
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, on a rare visit to Tokyo in April, called for the two countries to resolve the maritime row peacefully, although Beijing has stood by its territorial claims.
In October Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura, the top government spokesman, put the blame on China, saying Tokyo regretted the Chinese side had not made "a practical and full-fledged proposal."
Beijing hit back, calling Japan's criticism "totally unreasonable" and insisting that China had taken an "active and pragmatic attitude."
Machimura told reporters Tuesday that an agreement on the gas fields was "not a prerequisite" of Fukuda's visit to China.
