China urges Japan to create favorable conditions for E.China Sea issue

BEIJING - China said on Wednesday that Japan's hype of China's oil and gas development in the East China Sea is not conducive to dialogue and cooperation between the two sides.

Japan released 14 photos of Chinese offshore platforms on the website of the Foreign Ministry Wednesday as evidence of China's unilateral gas field development near the median line between its shoreline and that of Japan in the East China Sea, according to Kyodo.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang said China's exploitation of oil and gas in the East China Sea has been conducted in undisputable waters under China's jurisdiction, which is fully within China's sovereignty.

He said Japan's action deliberately creates antagonism and is not constructive to the management and control of the situation in the East China Sea as well as the improvement of bilateral ties.

"We hope the Japanese side could turn to self-examination of its behavior in line with the four-point principled agreement reached by the two sides last year," he said.

China and Japan reached a principled consensus on the East China Sea issue in 2008, in which the two sides agreed to carry out joint exploration in the area.

Lu said China's position remains unchanged with regard to implementing the principled consensus on the East China Sea issue.

China is willing to maintain communication with Japan on the issue, he said, urging Japan to create favorable atmosphere and conditions for implementing the consensus.