Japan Confirms China Continues Unilateral Gas Development

Jiji Press

12:45 JST, December 19, 2023

TOKYO, Dec. 18 (Jiji Press) — The Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force has spotted flames rising from a structure at a gas field that China is unilaterally developing in the East China Sea, the Foreign Ministry said Monday.

The structure is one of the 18 installed by China on the western side of the median line between Japan and China.

Hiroyuki Namazu, director-general of the ministry’s Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau, lodged a protest by telephone with Yang Yu, deputy minister at the Chinese Embassy in Tokyo, saying that it is extremely regrettable that the unilateral development has continued.

Namazu reiterated Japan’s call for an early resumption of negotiations on joint gas field development based on a 2008 bilateral agreement.