The government plans to spend some 23 billion yen in fiscal 2005 to prepare for exploratory gas drilling in Japan's exclusive economic zone in the East China Sea, government officials said Tuesday.
The plan is designed to demonstrate Japan's readiness to independently explore offshore gas fields straddling the East China Sea border between the Japanese and Chinese exclusive economic zones, because China has refused to provide data on gas fields to Japan, they said.
The government will decide whether to launch exploratory gas drilling while keeping an eye on its talks with China, they said.
The sum being earmarked in the budget for fiscal 2005 will include some 13 billion yen for preparatory research and some 10 billion yen to partly finance construction of a marine resources prospecting ship, the officials said.