Japan ruling party mulls international arbitration

ThishandoutpicturetakenandreleasedbytheJapanCoastGuardonDec22,2015showsaChineseCoastGuardshipneartheDiaoyuislands,intheEastChinaSea.(AFPPHOTO/JAPANCOASTGUARD)

（REUTERS）

Japan'srulingpartyurgedPrimeMinisterShinzoAbe'sgovernmentonWednesdaytoconsiderseekinginternationalarbitrationoverBeijing'sdrillingactivitiesintheEastChinaSea,mirroringsimilaractionbythePhilippines.

Sino-JapanesetieshavelongbeenplaguedoveragroupofuninhabitedEastChinaSeaislets.Lastyear,JapancalledonChinatohaltconstructionofoil-and-gasexplorationplatformsintheEastChinaSea.

ChinasaidthenithadeveryrighttodrillintheEastChinaSea.

Atthetime,TokyoaccusedBeijingofunilateraldevelopmentdespitea2008agreementtomaintaincooperationonresourcesdevelopmentinthearea,wherenoofficialborderbetweenthemhasbeendrawn.

ThePhilippineshaslodgedacasewithanarbitrationcourtinTheHagueaboutitsdisputewithChinaintheSouthChinaSea.Chinareactedangrilyandhaspledgednottoparticipate.

Wednesday'sresolutionbytheLiberalDemocraticParty(LDP)calledonAbe'sgovernmenttofirmlyaskChinaforthepromptresumptionoftalksonthedrillingissue,aswellastoconsidertakingthecasetoaninternationalarbitrationcourt.

"IfChinashrugsofftherequest,someactionmustbetaken,"YoshiakiHarada,headofanLDPpanelonresourcesdevelopmentintheEastChinaSea,toldreporters.

"Everyonehasagreedthatweshouldnotshyawayfromtakingthemattertoaninternationalarbitrationcourtandstartingpreparationforthatstepshouldbeconsidered,"HaradasaidafteranLDPmeetingontheresolution.

TherehasbeennobilateraldialogueonresourcesdevelopmentintheEastChinaSeainrecentyears,hesaid.