Japan risks China anger over gas
Tokyo (AsiaNews/Agencies) - Japan has begun the process of allocating rights for gas exploration in an area of the East China Sea also claimed by China. The move is likely to anger Beijing, at a time when tensions between the two nations are already rising.
It comes after a weekend of sometimes violent anti-Japanese demonstrations in China. The protests were sparked by Tokyo's approval of history textbooks that critics say play down the country's wartime brutality.
In a statement on Wednesday, Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said it would begin reviewing applications from companies that wanted to explore the disputed gas fields.
Government spokesman Hiroyuki Hosoda insisted the timing of the decision had nothing to do with the escalating row between Beijing and Tokyo.
Japanese companies have been waiting for 40 years to be given the go-ahead to drill in what it sees as its exclusive economic zone (EEZ), which has a potentially vast reserve of natural gas and oil.
In recent years China has conducted surveys of the disputed area, and has refused Japanese requests to stop or provide details of its research.
Both countries are heavily dependent on imported energy, and both are seeking new sources of energy to power their economies.
In the past Beijing has made it plain that the East China Sea dispute is an important one, characterising it as one of the main bilateral sticking points with Tokyo.
Ties between the two are at a new low after the weekend's protests in China. At the heart of the tensions is the rivalry between the two countries as they jostle for supremacy in Asia.
China's Premier, Wen Jiabao, has said Japan's failure to take responsibility for its past means it is not ready to have a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council.
Japanese Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura is travelling to Beijing on Saturday to try to resolve the row.
.png)
