Japan seeks high-level talks with China for progress on gas dispute

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TOKYO, Jan. 19 Kyodo -
Japan needs to urge China through high-level talks to make progress on a
dispute over gas field development in the East China Sea, Japanese Foreign
Minister Katsuya Okada said Tuesday.
''If discussions do not progress sufficiently at the working-level, I think it
is better to raise the level,'' Okada told a press conference, given that the
two countries are yet to start negotiations toward concluding a treaty to
implement a 2008 bilateral accord to jointly explore for gas resources in the
area.
Okada made the remarks after talks with his Chinese counterpart Yang Jiechi on
Sunday in Tokyo, during which Okada said that Japan will take ''certain''
action if China goes against the bilateral accord.
Okada refrained from elaborating on what he meant by ''certain'' action at the
press conference, but noted that his focus is on one of the disputed gas fields
known as Shirakaba in Japan.
As part of the accord reached in June 2008, China agreed to allow investment by
Japanese corporations in the project at the Shirakaba, or Chunxiao gas field.
China had already commenced development at the time.
Okada said he told Yang that it would be a violation of the accord if China
moves ahead with further development of the gas field.
The gas exploration dispute stems from the unsettled demarcation of the East
China Sea where the exclusive economic zones claimed by the two countries
overlap.
==Kyodo
2010-01-19 23:07:30