Japan on Wednesday rejected a Chinese proposal to jointly develop two gas-rich areas in the East China Sea, one of which is on the Japanese side of the median boundary near the disputed Senkaku Islands.
China floated the new proposal during a two-day bilateral meeting in Beijing on gas exploration in the East China Sea. The talks ended Tuesday with no breakthrough.
At the heart of a long-running territorial dispute, the Japan-controlled, uninhabited Senkaku Islands are also claimed by Taiwan and China, which refers to the islets as Diaoyu. The seabed surrounding the islets is said to contain significant gas deposits.