Japan will not accept China's unilateral development of gas fields in the East China Sea, the government's top spokesman said Thursday, after media reported that Chinese state-run oil companies plan to develop seven new gas fields in the sea at the heart of heightened tensions between Tokyo and Beijing.
"We will never accept development of gas fields in a unilateral manner," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said at a press conference, adding that the government is still gathering information to confirm whether the report is true.Tokyo and Beijing have been at odds over the status of the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea, controlled by Japan but claimed by China. Tensions have heightened since the Japanese government purchased three of the five islands from a private Japanese owner last year, with Chinese surveillance ships repeatedly intruding into waters near the uninhabited islets.
