Japan said on Thursday it had lodged a protest with China over the operation of a mobile drilling vessel in an area of the East China Sea rich in gas deposits.
It comes as the two countries are enmeshed in a row over Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s suggestion in November that Tokyo could intervene militarily in any attack on Taiwan.
Tokyo and Beijing agreed in June 2008 to cooperate over oil and gas resources in the East China Sea, but negotiations stopped two years later and have not resumed.
“We have confirmed that a mobile drilling vessel has been moored and anchored in waters” on the Chinese side of the two countries’ median line, Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara said on Thursday.
Japan’s coast guard had issued a navigation warning on Jan 2, he added. (AFP)
