Japanese and Chinese experts released a joint statement Sunday stressing the urgent need for their governments to start dialogue aimed at easing tensions over conflicting claims to a cluster of tiny islands in the East China Sea. About 80 experts, including former senior government and military officials, business executives, scholars and journalists, also called at a forum in Beijing for Japan and China to settle their disputes by peaceful means and to learn lessons from history so as to develop bilateral relations, Kyodo reported. “It is imperative for the governments of the two countries to start dialogue” to address friction over the islands in the East China Sea, said the statement, following their two days of discussions on territorial, historical and security issues.