Japan, China Move to Dampen Down Island Dispute Japan and China are taking small steps to dampen a bitter dispute over a series of small islands in the East China Sea. Foreign ministers from the two countries met late Tuesday on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly to discuss the issue. The Japanese government's purchase of some of the disputed islands from private owners sparked bitter anti-Japanese protests in China and raised tensions between the Asian giants to their highest level in years. The ministers' meeting came just hours after Japanese and Taiwanese coast guard cutters exchanged water cannon blasts just off the islands, known as the Senkakus in Japan and the Diaoyu in China. Taiwan also claims the islands, which sit astride rich fishing waters and potentially large reserves of natural gas.