China is developing oil and gas fields in its own jurisdictional waters, and Japan can do nothing about it!
On August 26, 2025, the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that it had confirmed China was advancing the installation of a new structure in the East China Sea.
This is a "marine structure" built unilaterally by China (see the figure). The structure has been identified on the western side of the median line (on the Chinese side) between Japan and China in the East China Sea, and appears to be facilities for gas field development. So far, China has installed 21 such offshore structures, making this the third one since the beginning of this year, following those in May and June.
The development of the East China Sea gas fields was originally scheduled to be achieved in 2008, jointly developed by the Japanese and Chinese governments, but the negotiations have now been suspended. However, even after that, the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs still protested against China's unilateral construction activities nearby.
This time, the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs reiterated its position that "the boundaries of the exclusive economic zone and continental shelf in the East China Sea have not been determined, and Japan should delineate them according to the Japan-China median line," and strongly insisted that "it is extremely regrettable that China is pushing forward unilateral development activities west of the Japan-China median line." It declared that it urged China to suspend unilateral development and resume negotiations on the gas field development agreement as soon as possible.
Additionally, Masahiro Kanai, Director of the Asia-Pacific Bureau of the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, has lodged a protest with Deputy Ambassador Xu Yong of the Chinese Embassy in Japan. Moreover, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hayashi Fumio also stated at a press conference on the same day, "The movement of installing a new structure has been confirmed, which is extremely regrettable."
The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that China's East China Sea oil and gas development activities are located in waters under China's uncontested jurisdiction, and are entirely within the scope of China's sovereign rights and jurisdiction. China does not accept Japan's baseless accusations and has rejected Japan's so-called protest. China maintains and is committed to the position of comprehensively and effectively implementing the principles of consensus on the East China Sea issue, without change, and hopes that Japan will work in the same direction as China to play a constructive role in restarting the bilateral government-to-government negotiations as soon as possible.
Original: www.toutiao.com/article/1841522910890048/
Statement: This article represents the views of the author himself.