Japan's ruling party prepared new legislation yesterday to solidify Tokyo's claim to undersea gas fields at the center of a dispute with China and give the Coast Guard the right to protect Japanese drilling facilities there.
The proposed law, to be submitted to Parliament in January, would establish a 500m safety zone around Japanese facilities on the country's continental shelf or in its exclusive economic zone, said Yoshiharu Makino, policy secretary for the bill's sponsor, Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) lawmaker Keizo Takemi.
Feud
The concept bill aims to protect Japanese development of ocean-based natural resources and will likely fuel an ongoing feud between Tokyo and China over natural gas deposits claimed by both nations in the East China Sea.
China has already extracted gas from one field, triggering protests from Japan that the reserves might run dry.
Under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, which both Japan and China have signed, coastal countries can claim an economic zone extending 370km from their shores.
The disputed reserves lie within both countries' claims, and the UN has until May 2009 to issue a ruling on the matter.
Unauthorized entrants to Japan's safety zone would face up to a year in prison or fines of ¥500,000 (US$4,200). While the bill doesn't mention the East China Sea, it would allow Japan's Coast Guard to better protect Japanese interests there.
"Without this bill, the Coast Guard must wait until facilities are attacked," Makino said. "With this bill, they don't have to wait."
`Serious attitude'
LDP lawmaker Yasutoshi Nishimura was quoted by Kyodo News as saying the bill will "represent Japan's serious attitude" toward the gas dispute and promote governmental talks between Japan and China.
The sides have met on the issue three times in the past year, most recently in September, but have reached no breakthrough.
Japan wants China to stop drilling operations immediately until an agreement can be worked out for joint development.
Beijing says it is within its rights to develop the region's resources.
China bases its claim, in part, on a separate international treaty that lets coastal countries extend their borders to the edges of their undersea continental shelves.
In July, Beijing formally protested Tokyo's decision to give private oil company Teikoku Oil Co drilling rights in the disputed area, calling it a severe provocation.
Teikoku and several other Japanese oil companies had first applied for drilling rights in the late 1960s, following a UN report about possible rich undersea deposits. The Japanese companies have not yet begun drilling in the waters.
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