Japan to Again Ask China to Stop Drilling Operations in Disputed Waters

Japan will ask China in talks next week to halt preparations to begin producing natural gas from wells in disputed waters of the East China Sea, Kyodo News reported.

“We intend to take up the issue of natural resource development in the East China Sea during the Japan-China talks next week,” Kyodo quoted Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda as saying at a press conference.

It said the two countries have agreed to hold working-level talks next Monday and Tuesday in Beijing to discuss Chinese drilling near the median line which Japan claims demarcates Japanese and Chinese economic waters.

China deems the line invalid and insists its economic waters stretch to the edge of the Asian continental shelf.
RigZone