China violates accord with Japan over disputed gas field

China has violated an agreement with Japan and continued developing a gas field in a disputed area in the East China Sea, a press report said Sunday.

The neighbours struck a deal in June last year to end a lingering spat over four Chinese undersea gas fields which, Japan claimed, extend or possibly extend into its exclusive economic zone.
Under the deal, Japan and China would jointly develop the gas fields. Japan agreed to invest in one of them while the two sides continue talks on the remaining three, freezing further development.

But Japan has complained that China has since begun exploring one of the disputed fields, named Tianwaitian, the Sankei daily paper reported, citing unspecified government sources.

“There is a strong possibility that China has completed drilling work and entered the stage of production” in the field, the daily said.

Japanese patrol planes spotted brown discoloration and fierce bubbling of water near a platform in the Tianwaitian field in July and later, the daily said.

The phenomena might be a sign of underwater drilling and related activities, the daily quoted the governmental Resouces and Energy Agency as saying.

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