China demands Japan accommodate China's lone operation of gas field

China is asking Japan to accommodate its move to unilaterally operate a gas field in the East China Sea which is at the center of a dispute between the two countries over resource exploration rights there, sources from both nations said Thursday.

China's request to single-handedly produce gas from the field dubbed ''Chunxiao'' by China and ''Shirakaba'' by Japan effectively puts aside the nations' efforts to jointly develop this and other gas fields in the area -- a solution proposed by both sides to resolve their dispute.

The Chinese proposal may mar prospects for making headway over the gas dispute on the occasion of Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao's visit to Japan next week. The two countries have been keen on pushing the issue forward in time for Wen's trip.

According to the sources, the Japanese side is hardly keen on letting China go alone in gas production in the field, believed to have the richest reserves among the gas fields China is pushing to develop in the East China Sea. Japan is hoping for joint production.

The gas dispute stems from the unsettled demarcation of the East China Sea where the two countries' economic waters overlap.

The Chinese side presented this idea in an informal meeting held ahead of gas dispute talks on March 29 in Tokyo aimed at breaking the impasse on the gas row, the sources said.

Japan and China have held talks on the gas issue since October 2004 after China's natural gas project near the area came to light in June of that year.

The Chunxiao field is located west of the Japan-designated median line that separates the two countries' 200-nautical-mile EEZs. Beijing does not recognize the line and claims its EEZ stretches farther to the edge of the continental shelf, nearer to Japan's Okinawa Prefecture.

Japan and China agree on joint development of gas fields in the East China Sea but differ on where it should take place.

In the gas dispute talks at the director general level in Tokyo, Japan has said that the Chinese side presented a view on the joint development that can be taken as ''constructive.''

It is unknown if China made any proposal on the areas of the joint development including gas fields other than Chunxiao, the sources said.

Prospects are dim, though, that Japan and China will reach an agreement on where and how joint production should be carried out during Wen's talks with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Wednesday.

A Chinese consortium has been developing gas fields in an area of the sea close to waters claimed by Japan and Japan is concerned the action could siphon off resources from what it claims is the Japanese side.

Japan has since been demanding that China halt ongoing gas projects and present data on them so that the two countries can jointly explore resources in the area.

Japan has proposed to China that the two nations jointly develop natural gas in a much wider area of the East China Sea straddling the Japan-designated median line.

China, meanwhile, has suggested that the two countries together tap northern and southern areas in the East China Sea but Tokyo is against the offer as they are believed to be close to the Japan-controlled Senkaku Islands, claimed also by China and Taiwan.