Japan, China drop Asunaro gas field plan / Fear of conflict with ROK seen behind move The Yomiuri Shimbun
Japan and China took the Asunaro undersea natural gas field in the East China Sea off their agreed list of areas to jointly develop to avoid any possibility of conflict with South Korea, sources close to the Japan-China negotiations said Friday.
Tokyo and Beijing agreed not to develop the Asunaro gas field, known as Longjing in China, jointly or individually--effectively abandoning all plans to develop the gas field.
The Asunaro gas field lies close to both the median line between China and South Korea--a key basis for deciding the boundary of their respective waters--and a continental shelf area Japan and South Korea have agreed to jointly develop.
If the gas field were to be developed by Japan and China, it could trigger a dispute with South Korea. After taking this into consideration, Tokyo and Beijing agreed not to develop the Asunaro gas field, the sources said.
According to the sources, the Japanese and Chinese delegations involved in the negotiations had considered joint development of the gas field.
Scientific tests, however, found the stratum containing natural gas at the site could straddle the China-South Korea median line and stretch into the Japan-South Korea joint development area.
This meant that if Japan and China jointly were to develop the Asunaro gas field, South Korea might claim that its gas resources were being tapped.
When the Japanese government officially released a list Wednesday of agreed gas field sites for joint development with China, the Asunaro gas field was conspicuously absent. The list covers only sea areas south of Asunaro.
The government said only that the Asunaro gas field had not been listed as a result of its negotiations with China.
During the negotiations, Japan demanded China jointly develop four gas fields in the East China Sea. The two sides agreed to jointly develop the Shirakaba gas field, known as Chunxiao in China, with capital contributions from Japan.