A Liberal Democratic Party panel compiled a bill Thursday to protect the vessels used by marine resource explorers and fishermen in Japan's 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone.
The move is to provide a legal basis for protecting Japan's test-drilling activities in the East China Sea.
The bill, drafted by an LDP panel headed by House of Councilors member Keizo Takemi, stipulates that the Land, Infrastructure and Transport Ministry may create off-limits zones near structures set up for resource exploration and development in the EEZ. Trespassers would be punished with prison terms up to one year and fines worth 500,000 yen.
The legislation is thought to be aimed at supporting Teikoku Oil Co., which was granted concessions earlier this year to start experimental drilling in the East China Sea, in an apparent bid to counter natural gas exploration conducted nearby by a Chinese consortium.
The LDP aims to present the bill to the ordinary Diet session convening in January.
Vice Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Hideji Sugiyama told a news conference later in the day that Teikoku Oil will decide how to conduct test-drilling activities but the state should facilitate the project via safety measures.
Yasutoshi Nishimura, who heads the LDP panel's secretariat, said at a group meeting Thursday morning that the bill would "promote governmental talks between Japan and China" concerning a bilateral dispute over gas-exploration rights in the East China Sea.
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