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Chinese Media Lashes Out at Japan's Decision on E. China Sea Gas

Posted on: Monday, 18 July 2005, 12:01 CDT

Jul. 18--BEIJING -- Chinese media on Monday lashed out at Japan's decision to grant a Japanese company the right to drill for resources in an area in the East China Sea claimed by both countries as their exclusive economic zone, calling the action a "provocation" against Beijing.

"Japan's provocation in the East China Sea is very dangerous," said the headline of the Global Times, a paper that operates under the Chinese Communist Party's People's Daily.

Not only has the Japanese government given Teikoku Oil Co. concessions to conduct experimental drilling, but has also "ignored Chinese concerns" and given Japanese names to the three sites the company has applied for drilling, the paper said.

The paper was referring to the sites covering a combined 400 square kilometers.

The sites are located just east of the "median line," which Japan says separates the exclusive economic zones of Japan and China in the East China Sea.

China does not recognize the line and says its economic waters stretch further to the east, to the end of the continental shelf.

The Chinese paper said that Japan and China have had a string of discords over how Japan views the wartime past, and this incident will "add frost to snow" in bilateral ties.

The report also noted that a Chinese patrol boat has been dispatched to the East China Sea area for inspection duty, and that China will continue to rigorously inspect the area.

The China Youth Daily, meanwhile, said while Japan has said that it wants to make the East China Sea "a sea of cooperation," the fact that the words came after it granted concessions to Teikoku Oil makes it hard for China to believe in Japan's "truth and sincerity." The daily quoted Lu Yaodong, an expert at the China Academy of Social Sciences, as saying the action was part of Japan's strategy of taking a one-sided action first, waiting for the situation to settle down somewhat, then taking a further step.

The report also said Japan's aim was not just to obtain energy resources in the area, but also to make the disputed islands there, known as the Senkaku Islands in Japan and Diaoyu Islands in China, Japanese territory.

That is the reason why Japan is insisting on the "median line" as the demarcation of the two countries' exclusive economic zones, the report said.

The Japanese government said Thursday it has granted Teikoku Oil concessions to conduct experimental drilling in the East China Sea.

The oil company originally applied for exploration rights in the sea area in 1969 but the government shelved the applications because of the demarcation dispute.

A Chinese consortium is also exploring for natural gas near the area.

While the projects are on the western side of the median line, Japanese government officials have said they are so close to the line that China could siphon off resources that belong to Japan, and ask Beijing to stop the exploration and provide exploration data to Japan. China has refused.

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Source: Kyodo News International, Tokyo

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