Kind of reminds me of a stubborn old man who just 'plain ain't gonna budge.'
China won't give in to its territorial claims and Japan acknowledged that the two countries are not likely to agree on claims in the energy rich East China Sea before an autumn visit by Japan's new PM Yasuo Fukuda to Beijing.
Japan asked Beijing to be more 'practical' to try to come to an agreement.
Japan says - "It is regrettable that the Chinese side has not made a practical and full-fledged proposal. I hope China will make a concrete proposal soon by taking a stance to resolve this issue more actively."
The two countries are Asia's largest economies and energy
importers...and users.The two countries also have been discussing the gas fields since 2004 to no resolution...just talking.
China began unilaterally drilling in the area in 2003. Tokyo got seriously angry.
China say - their economic zone stretches as far as Japan's Okinawa Island chain.
Giving up on a solution....
Then what?
Japan is almost wholly dependent on import natural gas to meet its supply, therefore having a domestic supply of energy is greatly valued by the Japanese to its energy security.
Unlike oil reserve, China has had much better luck finding natural gas reserve within its territory. China imports natural gas mostly because of processing bottleneck, not because lack of domestic supply. Therefore, with at least several decades worth of supply, China is in no hurry to find more gas field and can afford to play hard to get and drag out the negotiation until it is favorable.
Posted by: Falen | October 19, 2007 11:45 PM | Permalink to Comment