Tokyo has lodged a protest to Beijing over unilateral development of a gas field in the East China Sea, Japanese media reported on Monday, citing the country's foreign ministry
TOKYO (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 03rd October, 2022) Tokyo has lodged a protest to Beijing over unilateral development of a gas field in the East China Sea, Japanese media reported on Monday, citing the country's foreign ministry.
The complaint came following the detection of gas combustion signs at a facility built on the Chinese side of the disputed territory in the East China Sea. Takehiro Funakoshi, the head of the Japanese Foreign Ministry's Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau, lodged a protest with China through its embassy in Japan, Japanese news agency Kyodo reported.
In May, Japan spotted a drilling rig in the East China Sea, which was already the 17th built by China in the area. In June, Tokyo lodged a protest against Beijing over the completion of a new gas drilling facility. 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.
China is drilling gas fields 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, while China insists that its exclusive economic zone extends to the Okinawa Trench.
In 2008, Japan and China agreed to jointly develop fields located in the disputed area and began negotiations on the agreement. However, after a Chinese fishing trawler collided with a Japanese coast guard ship near the disputed Senkaku Islands in 2010, negotiations were suspended by the Chinese side.
