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TOKYO, JAPAN - JAPAN has proposed a plan to resolve a simmering row over natural resources by jointly developing two gas fields with China in disputed waters in the East China Sea, a Japanese newspaper said.
Japan made the proposal earlier this month, the Yomiuri newspaper said on Wednesday, without citing sources.
Japanese government officials were not immediately available for comment.
Under the proposal, Japan and China would jointly develop the Tianwaitian and Chunxiao gas fields in the East China Sea, the daily said.
Japan had previously proposed jointly developing four gas fields including those two, it said.
Japan selected the two gas fields for joint development because China has abundant data on them, including their production capacities and subterranean structures, the newspaper said.
China on Tuesday denied a Japanese report that the two countries were considering splitting profits from gas fields in disputed waters in the East China Sea.
A Japanese government source said this week that Tokyo had proposed jointly developing gas fields that straddle what Japan says is the median line that separates the two countries' exclusive economic zones. The source, however, did not specify the fields that Tokyo proposed to develop with China.
China's state-controlled CNOOC has said it is ready to begin production from the Chunxiao gas field, and Japan fears that China operations could siphon off gas from fields that extend into what it sees as its own economic waters.
Estimated net known reserves in the East China Sea, where the disputed fields lie, total a relatively modest 180 million barrels of oil equivalent, Japan says.
Both sides are devoting considerable diplomatic energy to the dispute because of expectations that a lot more oil or gas may be found in the area.
China said in January it hoped to resolve the oil and gas row before spring, when President Hu Jintao is due to make the first visit to Japan by a Chinese head of state in 10 years.
The Nikkei business daily said on Monday the two countries were negotiating a compromise to set aside their long-running dispute over sovereignty in the area and move ahead with joint development and split profits. -- REUTERS
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