31 July 2026•Update: 31 July 2026
Japan has lodged a diplomatic protest with China over the alleged installation of a Chinese structure in the East China Sea, the Foreign Ministry said Friday.
In a statement, Japan’s Foreign Ministry said it recently confirmed that China had begun installing the structure on the western side of the geographical equidistance line between the two countries in the East China Sea, where the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) and continental shelf boundaries remain undelimited.
In response, Masaaki Kanai, director-general of the Japanese Foreign Ministry’s Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau, summoned Shi Yong, deputy chief of mission at the Chinese Embassy in Tokyo, to deliver a formal protest, according to the statement.
Tokyo described China’s resource development activities as “extremely regrettable” and called on Beijing to resume negotiations on implementing the June 2008 agreement, under which the two sides agreed to cooperate on the joint development of natural resources in the East China Sea.
The East China Sea has long been a source of friction between Asia’s two largest economies, with the two countries holding differing views over maritime boundaries and rights to exploit undersea energy resources.
China has yet to respond to Japan’s protest or the allegations concerning the newly installed structure in the East China Sea.
