Tokyo: China has put 16 drilling rigs close to its de facto maritime border with Japan, Tokyo said yesterday, in the latest twist in a row over gas fields in waters disputed by the two countries.
The Japanese government released diagrams showing the location of platforms which it says could exploit undersea reserves over which the two countries are at loggerheads.
“It is extremely deplorable that China is unilaterally developing resources while the border has not been settled,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said.
The platforms have all appeared despite a June 2008 agreement in which the two countries said they would jointly develop the area in the wake of friction over who had the rights to exploit the resources.
The Japanese government’s claims come a day after Tokyo slammed Beijing’s bid to reclaim land in the South China Sea as a “coercive attempt” to force sweeping maritime claims in its annual defence paper.
Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said: “Japan has lodged protests against China’s unilateral development. However, China has been negative on resuming talks.”
Tokyo has long suspected that Beijing would violate the joint development agreement for the field, which lies in an area where both countries’ claimed exclusive economic zones (EEZ) overlap.
Japan says the median line between the two nations should mark the limits of their respective EEZs. But China insists the border should be drawn closer to Japan, taking into account the continental shelf and other features of the ocean. AFP
