Asked Tuesday whether the encounter was arranged by a third party, Japanese government press secretary Satoru Sato said in the EU capital that the meeting "happened suddenly" and "naturally."

The evening meeting between Japan's Prime Minister Naoto Kan and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao at an Asia-Europe summit Monday broke the ice after an almost month-long territorial row over islands in the East China Sea.

"It was just after a working dinner," Sato told reporters. "Prime Minister Kan said it happened naturally as they were walking out of the room. They happened to meet in the corridor and sat down to talk."

Tokyo's arrest on September 8 of a Chinese trawler captain whose ship collided with two Japanese patrol vessels near a disputed island chain in the East China Sea had led Beijing to cut off all high-level contacts until Monday.

Sato said that after each stating their position on ownership of the islands -- with each claiming sovereignty -- the pair "shared the view that the actual situation in the Japanese-Sino relationship is not desirable."

"Both sides confirmed they'll make efforts to normalisation," he added.

China's foreign ministry confirmed the meeting, held on the sidelines of the ASEM meeting of leaders from 46 nations, and said the two sides had agreed to "hold a high-level China-Japan meeting at a suitable time".

"Wen pointed out that it serves the fundamental interests of both countries and peoples to protect and advance the China-Japan strategic relationship, which is of mutual benefit," the ministry said in a statement.

But both men reiterated their countries' claims to the islands, known as Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China. Taiwan also claims the islets, which lie in rich fishing grounds and are believed to contain oil and gas deposits.

Japan says their sovereignty dates back to the late 19th century and that Chinese interest in the isles dates to the development of petroleum resources on the East China Sea continental shelf in the late 1970s.

Wen expressed Beijing's opinion that the islands "have been Chinese territory since ancient times", according to China's official Xinhua news agency.

The dispute is the worst between the neighbours in years, and has undermined recent efforts to improve ties marked by decades of mistrust stemming from Japan's brutal invasion and occupation of China in the 1930s and 40s.

Kan has come under attack from political conservatives who claim he caved in to Chinese bullying by releasing the trawler captain last month.

China's arrest of four Japanese for allegedly illegally filming military installations kept tensions high, although both sides insisted the move was unrelated to the maritime spat.

Three of the four were freed and arrived back in Japan on Friday, although a fourth remains in detention.

In an apparent conciliatory move by Japan, Tokyo had signalled Kan's intention to go to Brussels for the EU-Asia summit in a bid to engineer a meeting with Wen.

And then just ahead of the meeting, Japanese Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara -- seen as a China hawk -- tried to tamp down anti-Beijing sentiment, insisting the two countries should "seek a path for co-existence and co-prosperity".

Nationalist groups had rallied in Tokyo against China the day before, accusing Kan's government of suffering a "diplomatic defeat" to the fast-growing neighbour.

earlier related report
S.Korea eyes trilateral with Japan, China to ease tensions
Brussels (AFP) Oct 5, 2010 - The leaders of South Korea, China and Japan will likely hold a trilateral summit this month to ease tensions following a Sino-Japanese spat, South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak said Tuesday.

A maritime dispute had threatened to hijack a two-day summit of Asian and European leaders in Brussels, but Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao mended fences at a chance post-dinner encounter.

"Right now there is some friction between China and Japan," Lee told a news conference at the end of the summit.

"China, South Korea and Japan are three important countries in northeast Asia and if we enter into conflict this will threaten stability and prosperity in the region," he said.

Lee said he had spoken separately with Wen and Kan during the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) at the royal palace in Brussels.

The Chinese and Japanese leaders both gave "extremely positive responses" to Lee's idea of a trilateral meeting on the margins of a summit of the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Hanoi in late October.

"I told each of them that we must work together to ensure peace in the region," the South Korea leader said.

"I am convinced that the leaders of these three countries will be able to meet," Lee said.

Tokyo's arrest on September 8 of a Chinese trawler captain whose ship collided with two Japanese patrol vessels near a disputed island chain in the East China Sea had led Beijing to cut off all high-level contacts until Monday.

During their post-dinner meeting, Wen and Kan stated their country's positions on ownership of the islands -- with each claiming sovereignty -- and "shared the view that the actual situation in the Japanese-Sino relationship is not desirable," said Japanese government spokesman Satoru Sato.

"Both sides confirmed they'll make efforts to normalisation," the spokesman added.

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