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"Provocative" Japanese drilling condemned
Cui reiterated that China has never recognized the so-called "middle line" and will never recognize it. The sea area to the east of the "middle line" is under dispute, and Japan is not entitled to take unilateral action there. China will firmly oppose and never accept any Japanese attempts to impose unilateral action on China, Cui stressed. He said China and Japan should handle their disputes reasonably and explore resolutions through dialogues and consultations on an equal footing. Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said in April that Japan and China should solve the oil and gas drilling dispute in the East China Sea through dialogue. "We need to continue talks from a big point of view, without inflaming conflicts," Kyodo News quoted Koizumi as saying. Japan has unilaterally demarcated a controversial exclusive economic zone along the "middle line." China holds the demarcation should be determined by the continental shelf on China's side, over which China claims exclusive rights. Japan has previously opposed China's exploration of oil and gas at locations within Chinese territory, worried that China's Chunxiao oil and gas field in the East China Sea could affect Japan's own reserves. Although the Chunxiao field is on the Chinese side of the "demarcation line,"
Nakagawa claims that it will enable the Chinese to siphon off Japan's share of
the resource deposits.
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