Japan protests Chinese drilling rig in East China Sea

July 1 ------ Japan has lodged a protest after China installed a mobile offshore drilling rig on its side of the median line in the East China Sea, suspecting that it is conducting exploratory drilling for a natural gas field, sources familiar with the matter said.

The protest, lodged Friday, followed the Japanese Defense Ministry’s discovery in late June that the rig had been fixed to the seabed about 400 kilometers northwest of Okinawa’s main island, the sources said.

Japan and China have overlapping claims in the East China Sea. Tokyo regards the median line as the de facto boundary between the two nations’ exclusive economic zones, while Beijing says its continental shelf extends further east toward Okinawa, giving it rights to a broader area.

Japan has called on China to resume talks under a 2008 agreement on the joint development of natural gas resources in the East China Sea, which has never been implemented.

The latest protest comes amid growing Japanese concern over China’s assertive maritime activities, including coast guard patrols, military operations and resource development. Tokyo also protested on June 22 after detecting another Chinese mobile drilling vessel being anchored in the East China Sea.

Source: inquirer.net