China on Friday expressed "strong protest" against Tokyo's approval of a Japanese oil and gas company's request to test-drill in the East China Sea, branding the move a "severe provocation and violation."

According to China, the approval is also in breach of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

Cui Tiankai, director of the Foreign Ministry's Asian Department, summoned Chihiro Atsumi, minister of the Japanese Embassy in China, to lodge the protest.

He requested the Japanese side correct its decision and stop any actions that impair China's sovereign rights and interests.

The Japanese government granted the Teikoku Oil Co concessions to conduct experimental drilling in the East China Sea, Shoichi Nakagawa, Japanese economy, trade and industry minister, said on Thursday.

Cui said China and Japan have not settled issues in the East China Sea as they dispute demarcation in the area.

It is untenable for Japan, based on its unilateral position on the so-called "middle line," to grant test drilling rights to Japanese firms in the disputed sea area, he said.

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.

"This claim is untenable," said Liu Jiangyong, an expert with the Institute of International Studies of Tsinghua University.

"The west part of the continental shelf is higher than the east and the oil has to flow down so it is only possible for Japan to suck out China's oil."

The expert said Japan should bear responsibility for the already-strained relations.

"The right-wing on the Japanese side has played up the so-called 'China Threat' so much in recent years and made unwarranted charges against China's rapid economic development."

The Chinese Embassy in Japan also lodged solemn representations to the Japanese Foreign Ministry on Friday.

(China Daily July 16, 2005)