Law of the Sea - Continental Shelf

Song Enlai, chairman of China National Offshore Oil Corp's (CNOOC) board of supervisors, certainly made a name for himself by becoming one of the few Chinese officials whom the Chinese Foreign Ministry called a liar, when he made the following remarks to reporters in Beijing on the disputed Chunxiao gas field in the East China Sea, "It's a sensitive question. But we already started developing the field, we are already pumping oil." After Japan called the statement "very regrettable", the Chinese Foreign Ministry told Japan that the statement is "not true" and pointed out that Song had retired from CNOCC. Later, a Chinese FM spokeswoman reasserted that China has complete sovereignty over the Chunxiao oil and gas field.

Law of the Sea - Continental Shelf

China and Japan held their first round of negotiations aimed at signing a treaty over joint gas field development in the East China Sea. Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada said, ''Both Japan and China have to make efforts to produce fruitful results." During the negotiations, China proposed resolving the issue of Japanese firms' investment in the Chunxiao gas field first, whereas Japan favors comprehensive settlement of the investment and the joint development of the Longjing field.

Law of the Sea - Continental Shelf

China and Japan agreed to hold their first director-general level meeting over disputed gas field development in the East China Sea since the two countries reached an agreement in June 2008. Japan hoped that the talks would make progress on forging a bilateral treaty embodying details of how to implement a joint development project.

Law of the Sea - Continental Shelf

Japanese FM Katsuya Okada told his Chinese counterpart Yang Jiechi that Japan will take ''certain'' action if China goes against the Principled Consensus between the two countries to jointly explore gas resources in the disputed East China Sea. Japan's action would be to start development on its own in the area, In response, Yang maintained China's sovereign rights over Chunxiao oil and gas fields.