Tokyo, Aug.2.– Japan has lodged a protest with China over what it described as suspicious activity 
in a maritime area rich in gas deposits in the East China Sea, officials said Tuesday.
The two countries have a longstanding dispute over the Japan-controlled, China-claimed Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea. China uses the name Daioyu.
Tokyo and Beijing agreed in June 2008 to cooperate over oil and gas resources in the area, but negotiations stopped two years later amid rising tensions and have not resumed.
“We confirmed that China is engaged in some kind of activity by stopping mobile drilling ships” near the median line separating the two countries’ exclusive economic zones in the area, said Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga.
“It is extremely regrettable that China is unilaterally continuing its development activity,” (...)
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