China Accused Of Theft In Gas Dispute With Japan

The Guardian (UK) ^ | 4-5-2007 | Justin McCurry

[blam]

China accused of theft in gas dispute with Japan

Justin McCurry in Tokyo
Thursday April 5, 2007
Guardian Unlimited (UK)

Wen Jiabao's trip will be the first to Tokyo by a Chinese premier since October 2000. Photograph: Sari Gustafsson/AFP/Getty

A senior Japanese politician has likened China's development of gas fields in disputed waters to theft, in remarks likely to strain bilateral ties just days before the Chinese premier, Wen Jiabao, flies to Tokyo for fence-mending talks with the Japanese prime minister, Shinzo Abe.

Shoichi Nakagawa, the Liberal Democratic party's policy chief and a close ally of Mr Abe, hinted that Japan had not responded strongly enough to Chinese exploratory drilling in an area of the East China Sea that both countries say falls within their respective economic zones.

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"If a thief broke into your house and opened the drawers and tried to take your wallet, the natural thing to do is to say, 'Don't open the drawers; don't take the wallet,'" the Japanese media reported Mr Nakagawa as saying.

"But that has not been the case. Are we really serving our people by keeping quiet and just watching out wallet be taken?"

The countries are discussing possible joint development of the area's potentially rich gas reserves, but have failed to agree on where their sea boundaries end. Japan is concerned that a Chinese consortium is already siphoning off valuable resources from the Japanese side of the disputed demarcation line.

Scientists from both countries met earlier this week, and arrangements are being made for senior officials to hold more talks before Mr Wen arrives in Japan on Wednesday.

"We are hopeful that [Mr Wen's] upcoming visit will provide political impetus to push forward the negotiations," Mr Abe's spokesman, Hiroshi Suzuki, told the Guardian.

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