China has always taken an active attitude to address the East China Sea issue with Japan, Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said Sunday.

Yang made the remarks at a press conference on the sidelines of the annual session of the National People's Congress, the country's top legislature.

China has always held that differences between China and Japan on the East China Sea issue should be resolved through consultation and negotiation, so as to safeguard the China-Japan strategic and mutually beneficial relations, and ensure the fundamental interests of people in both countries, Yang said.

China has taken an active attitude, instead of a passive one, in addressing the issue, he said.

He said China and Japan had reached a principled consensus on the East China Sea issue, adding that both sides should honor the spirits of the principled consensus and create conditions for its implementation, in order to make the East China Sea a "sea of peace, friendship and cooperation."

Under a China-Japan principled consensus on the East China Sea issue, reached in June 2008, the two sides will, through joint exploration, select by mutual agreement areas for joint development in the block mentioned by the consensus under the principle of mutual benefit.

(Xinhua News Agency March 7, 2010)