Japan protests Beijing's gas drilling in East China Sea

Tokyo—Japan said Thursday it had lodged a protest with China over the operation of a mobile drilling vessel in an area of the East China Sea rich in gas deposits.

It comes as the two East Asian countries are enmeshed in a row over Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s suggestion in November that Tokyo could intervene militarily in any attack on Taiwan.

Tokyo and Beijing agreed in June 2008 to cooperate over oil and gas resources in the East China Sea, but negotiations stopped two years later and have not resumed.

“We have confirmed that a mobile drilling vessel has been moored and anchored in waters” on the Chinese side of the two countries’ median line, Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara said Thursday.

Japan’s coast guard had issued a navigation warning on Jan. 2, he added.

“The boundaries of the exclusive economic zone and continental shelf in the East China Sea have yet to be determined. Under these circumstances, it is deeply regrettable that China continues its unilateral development activities,” Kihara said.

“We have strongly protested to China through diplomatic channels,” he added.

The operation is believed to be exploratory drilling for a new gas field, the Kyodo News Agency reported.

The gas field under the joint development agreement lies in an area where both countries’ exclusive economic zones (EEZs) overlap.

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