Senkaku Islands

Japan is being nice to its mainland neighbour China. It has agreed to talks over the Senkaku Islands and surrounding seas, islands which are part of Japan and fully controlled by Japan. There are natural resources on these islands and in the sea. I do not really understand why you would have these talks, except for being polite. Politeness is nice, but can still not be the only reason to talk. I guess there is more to this story than I can see.