Japanese Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura and his Chinese counterpart Yang Jiechi agreed that senior officials should discuss the proposal in Beijing on September 21, foreign ministry spokesman Mitsuo Sakaba told reporters.

Tokyo accuses Beijing's state-run companies of "unilaterally" exploring for hydrocarbon deposits, primarily natural gas, along an undersea field that covers the sea border of the two energy-hungry Asian powers.

"This issue has been a point of major conflict between China and Japan," Sakaba said, adding that Tokyo had proposed joint exploration.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his Chinese counterpart Wen Jiabao had agreed during Wen's visit to Tokyo in April to hold consultations on the issue to try to seek a compromise position, the spokesman added.

"We agreed this time to have the next senior official-level consultation on the 21st of September," Sakaba said.

"The two foreign ministers expressed the political will to make maximum efforts to produce a political result, meaning some common solution," he added.

Sakaba said Tokyo wanted the two countries to "focus more on the conclusion of this issue before the visit of the Japanese premier to China before the end of the year.

"By that time we want a solution to the problem of the East China Sea exploration."

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