Japan has lodged a formal protest with China after confirming what it described as Beijing’s unilateral efforts to develop gas fields in contested areas of the East China Sea, Tokyo’s foreign ministry said late Monday.
The ministry said it had verified that China was installing drilling rigs in waters where the two countries’ exclusive economic zone (EEZ) claims overlap and filed a complaint with the Chinese embassy in Tokyo.
“It is extremely regrettable that China is advancing unilateral development,” the ministry said, adding that 21 suspected drilling platforms had been positioned on the Chinese side of the de facto maritime boundary. Tokyo fears that gas reserves on the Japanese side could also be siphoned off.
Japan has urged Beijing to resume talks on implementing a 2008 bilateral agreement that bans independent drilling and calls for joint development of undersea resources in the disputed area.
Tokyo maintains that the median line between the two nations should serve as the EEZ boundary, while Beijing argues the demarcation should be drawn closer to Japan, citing the continental shelf and other geographical features.
The dispute comes against the backdrop of a broader territorial row over a group of uninhabited islands in the East China Sea. The islands, known as the Senkakus in Japan and Diaoyu in China, are administered by Tokyo but claimed by Beijing, which routinely dispatches ships and aircraft to the area.
China also faces overlapping maritime claims with several Southeast Asian nations in the South China Sea, which it asserts sovereignty over in its entirety.
