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China, Japan to meet over gas feud
(AP)
Updated: 2005-09-22 14:37
China and Japan will meet to settle a feud over claims to undersea oil and
gas deposits in disputed waters, a Japanese government official said late
Wednesday, the Associated Press reported.
The two sides agreed to resume talks late next week on jointly developing
reserves that fall within the countries' U.N.-defined maritime economic zones,
Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura said.
Earlier this week, Tokyo urged Beijing to reverse what it said was a
one-sided decision to start extracting natural gas from the Tianwaitian oil
field in the East China Sea.
China responded that the new gas drilling activity was within its rights, but
said it was willing to negotiate with Japan over the territorial boundary issue.
At the negotiations, Japan will urge China to halt the drilling and provide
information on a geophysical survey it has conducted in the area, a foreign
ministry official said on condition of anonymity, citing government rules.
The gas dispute stems from a disagreement over which sea resources the two
sides can claim in the waters that separate China's eastern coast and Japan's
southern island chain of Okinawa.
The U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea, which both Japan and China have
signed, allows coastal countries to claim an economic zone extending 230 miles
from their shores. The disputed site lies within both countries' claims, and the
United Nations has until May 2009 to rule on the matter, according to the AP
report.
In July, Beijing formally protested Tokyo's decision to give a private oil
company drilling rights in the disputed area, calling it a severe provocation.
The battle over undersea natural resources comes amid a souring of relations
in recent months from separate disputes over textbooks used in some schools in
Japan. Critics say the books minimize Tokyo's wartime
atrocities.
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