Conflicting diplomatic schedules have caused Japan and China to postpone their next round of talks aimed at resolving a dispute over gas exploration rights in the East China Sea, according to Japanese Foreign Ministry press secretary Mitsuo Sakaba. No new date for talks has been decided upon, he said.
Sakaba said the gas dispute talks overlapped the six-party talks on North Korea’s denuclearization that were scheduled to commence Sept. 19.
The two nations last met in June in Tokyo for working-level talks, and reports say they have been stepping up efforts to reach an agreement, as they are seeking to compile a plan by the fall to jointly develop the disputed gas fields.
One report said Japan had been sounding out the Chinese side on paying for half of the cost for developing the four gas fields on the Chinese side near what Tokyo calls the Japan-China median line in the East China Sea.
Tokyo’s Sankei Shimbun newspaper said the proposal is expected to become an item on the official agenda of the Japan-China talks. If Japan’s cost to transport gas by sea is not commercially profitable, selling Japan’s share to China for cash is also being considered.
The proposal consists of two main parts:
- Upon agreement on sharing the development cost, rights to the newly produced natural gas will belong to both Japan and China.
- With regard to subterranean resources that China has already extracted, the distribution ratio between the two sides will be decided based on data on subterranean structures, with China purchasing such resources from Japan. However, Japan will concede to China’s lone development of gas fields whose subterranean structures do not extend over to the Japanese side.
The dispute stemmed from unsettled demarcation of the East China Sea where the waters claimed by the two countries overlap. The disputed sites are east of what Japan claims is the median line separating the 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zones of the two countries in the East China Sea.
China does not recognize the median line claimed by Japan, saying its economic waters stretch to the end of the continental shelf. In April, China reiterated its claim, saying its exploration for oil and gas in the East China Sea does not fall into waters shared with Japan and can be conducted on a unilateral basis (OGJ Online, Apr. 12, 2007).
However, Japan hopes to engage in joint development of four gas fields whose subterranean structures are thought to bestride the median line: Shirakaba (Chunxiao in Chinese), Kashi (Tianwaitian), Kusunoki (Duanqiao), and Asunaro (Longjing).
According to a Japanese government official, the paper said, the Chinese side has already constructed drilling facilities for Shirakaba and Kashi, and it is highly possible that pipelines connecting the two fields with the Chinese mainland have already been completed.
