Islands dispute hammers attitudes (4)

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To solve the Diaoyu Islands issue, most Japanese chose negotiations and international arbitration. But a majority of the well-educated Japanese said the priority should be avoiding accidental military conflicts, and almost half chose "putting aside disputes and seeking common development of the disputed area".

On the Chinese side, more than half of the respondents support "consolidating Chinese control (over the disputed area) to guard the territory", while the second most supported choice was "having Japan admit the existence of the territorial dispute through diplomatic efforts".

Despite strong Chinese demand for holding onto the islands, nearly half of the Japanese surveyed said there will be no military conflict between China and Japan in the sea.

But in China, more than a third said "there will be military conflict in the future".

China and Japan have not held a summit since tensions escalated in mid 2012.

"We can see a strong demand from the Japanese for negotiations, but the biggest problem in arranging a summit lies with the Japanese government, as Tokyo denies the existence of the territorial dispute," said Hu, from the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations.

"In that case, there will be little possibility for a summit, as such a meeting will be meaningless."

Mo Jingxi contributed to this story.

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