China's exploration of a gasfield in the East China Sea is its inherent sovereign right as the area does not fall in disputed waters, foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang said on Sunday.

"The Tianwaitian oil and gasfield is under the administration of China's undisputed territorial water," Qin said in a statement on the ministry's website (www.mfa.gov.cn).

Qin's statement came after a Japanese newspaper reported that China violated an agreement by developing the gasfield unilaterally.

Under the June 2008 China-Japan consensus on the East China Sea, the two sides are to select areas for joint development in the block mentioned by the consensus under the principle of mutual benefit. The two also agreed to continue discussions for the early realization of joint development in other parts of the East China Sea.

But the Sankei Daily said, without quoting Japanese officials or reliable sources, it had learned that China was drilling the Tianwaitian gasfield.

The report claimed that China's unilateral development of the Tianwaitian gasfield violated the June consensus.

Qin said the Sankei report distorted facts.

He said consultations would continue for the early realization of joint development in "other parts of the East China Sea", not in China's undisputed territorial waters. There is no basis for raising the issue of joint development in such areas, he said.

According to Jin Xide, a senior Japanese studies scholar with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, the June consensus has nothing to do with the Tianwaitian gasfield.

China has been preparing for and developing the Tianwaitian gas field because it has nothing to do with the disputed territorial waters, Jin told China Daily.

He said that China might develop the Tianwaitian gas field with Japanese companies' corporation like it has been doing for exploring the Chunxiao Oil and Gasfield.

"The Sankei report has distorted the news, and has been irresponsible in reporting," Jin said.

The Sino-Japanese dispute over the waters intensified in 1968 when a large reserve of gas and oil was discovered in the East China Sea.

As both countries rely heavily on imported energy products, neither dropped its claim. Observers said that the disagreement could endanger bilateral ties if not dealt with properly.

Chinese operator CNOOC Ltd had said in April 2007 that it had begun producing gas at the Tianwaitian field and that output from the field in 2007 was equivalent to 4 million cubic feet per day.

(China Daily January 5, 2009)