Asia
The Current Status of China’s Unilateral Development of Natural Resources in the East China Sea
June 5, 2023
- In recent years, China has accelerated its development activities of natural resources in the East China Sea, and the government of Japan has confirmed that there are 18 structures in total on the Chinese side of the geographical equidistance line between Japan and China.
- The Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) and the continental shelf in the East China Sea have not yet been delimited, and Japan takes a position that maritime delimitation should be conducted based on the geographical equidistance line between Japan and China. In this regard, under the circumstances pending maritime boundary delimitation, it is extremely regrettable that China is advancing unilateral development, even on the China side of the geographical equidistance line. The Government of Japan once again strongly requests China to cease its unilateral development and to resume negotiations as soon as possible on the implementation of the "June 2008 Agreement (PDF)
" in which Japan and China agreed to cooperate on the development of natural resources in the East China Sea.
- The status of China's unilateral development of natural resources （Last Updated:2023.6.5）
- Japan's legal position on the development of natural resources in the East China Sea