Gas field talks still on hold between Japan, China

"Ohata had warned Beijing of bringing the case to the World Trade Organization, but said he was no longer considering such a step."

Sore loser.

Mr. Maehara should be realistic as China, understands the rules of the game in the Japanese politics, will definitely not going to deal with him on anything related to the disputed waters or islands in the first place given the fact that Mr. Maehara himself was solely responsible for the arrest of the fisherman & a series of incidents thereafter ( even though a general public / onlooker like me is not qualified to judge who did right or wrong without any supportive evidence ). A more diplomatic & experienced team should be put forward to rebuild the basic trust first before returning to the meeting room for a serious talk. Time is in their hands !

A more diplomatic & experienced team should be put forward to rebuild the basic trust first before returning to the meeting room for a serious talk. Time is in their hands !

remote possibility even if new FM is chosen by Kan !

If the Ryukyu Islands were Independent, they would share Senkaku with China as the monies realized from this partnership would support the Ryukyuans for eons, but Japan is too greedy and wanys it all.

TheMarion, China now wants all of Okinawa not just Senkaku.

Where did you read that, YuriO?

"Japan’s foreign minister urged China on Sunday to reopen talks on developing natural gas deposits off islands claimed by both countries."

The writer should really do his/her homework a bit before writing the first sentence of the article -- the gas field on question has no island adjacent to it -- the off shore gas field is located entirely within the Chinese waters no matter one refers to the respective claim to draw the boundary line by both Chinese ( continental shelf theory ) & Japanese ( middle line theory ).. Japan's concern was the gas field would suck out gas under the sea bed by the Chinese...again only if the Japanese theory of boundary line is recognized which is not the case..hence the Chinese proposal was to develop jointly the gas field as a commercial deal ( not as a territorial issue )..hope other genuine experts can send in their input as well.

jianadaren:"Where did you read that, YuriO?"

Well here on JT for one, during the Senkaku incident that mentioned official Chinese academic researching that Ryukyu was officially a vassal state of the Quing dynasty as well if you do a bit of searching you will find (especially in Chinese publications) that China is not moving on the premise that Ryukyu was annexed illegally and that it was in fact part of China.

Yes China is moving in the direction of soon claiming Okinawa.

This is a moot issue once Japan has secured a certain portion of rare earth minerals from other sources it will start using it's superior technology and drill its own wells on its side of the fields and start draining and it will be a race from both sides to see who can get the gas faster.

What most here do not get is that China and Japan cooperating does not cover the entire zone but only the fields that straddle the EEZ Japan id not offering anything beyond that and that is why China is not happy it wants not only the fields that straddle the EEZ but supposed cooperation even on the possible fields well inside Japan's zone and is demanding that Japan also provide them with the latest technology.

Basically it boils down to this:

China; We want half of all the oil and gas in the entire area plus Japan pays half the cost and we get Japan's latest technology for free.

Japan: We offer half the gas and oil in the fields that cross both countries EEZ and offer to pay half the cost, we will not give you any of the oil or gas that is well inside Japan's EEZ or give you any of our latest technology especially for free!

So in the end China will start first but Japan has way more efficient methods and modern equipment so once it does start it will catch up quickly and it knows that and that is why it is in no hurry.

PT24881:"again only if the Japanese theory of boundary line is recognized which is not the case"

Hate to burst your bubble but the Japanese EEZ boundary is recognized by all except China and NK so that is all VS 2 (3 if you count Taiwan as separate)

@PT24881,

To back up what I just wrote about the boundaries Japan has the better technology and has several of the international gas and oil companies vying for a piece of the action but China state oil is going it alone because no one will touch their claim especially if they even try to cross the internationally recognized EEZ boundary.