Japan protests to China over gas production in the East China Sea

TOKYO, Oct 3 – PRIME. Japan has protested to China over the unilateral development of a gas field located in the East China Sea, the Kyodo news agency reported.

It is noted that the Japanese Foreign Ministry protested that the installation, built on the Chinese side of the equipment demarcation line, showed signs of gas burning. Takehiro Funakoshi, head of the Asia and Oceania Department of the Japanese Foreign Ministry, transmitted the protest through the Chinese Embassy in Japan.

In June, Japan protested to China over the completion of a drilling rig in the East China Sea across the dividing line between Japan and China. Drilling equipment was placed on the installation.

The PRC is drilling gas fields at installations in the East China Sea in an area where the two countries have not reached a final agreement on the border. Japan believes that the line runs along the border of its exclusive economic zone, China insists that its exclusive economic zone extends to the Okinawa Trench.

The drilling rig discovered by Japan in May of this year is already the 17th one built by China in the area. Tokyo believes that China is unilaterally developing a gas field that lies on the border between the two countries and is equally claimed by Japan.

In 2008, Japan and China agreed to jointly develop fields located in the disputed area and started negotiations on the specific implementation of the agreement. However, after a Chinese fishing trawler collided with a Japanese maritime security ship near the disputed Senkaku Islands in 2010, negotiations were interrupted by the Chinese side.