The Tokyo Metropolitan Government has budgeted 1.3 billion yen to survey small Pacific islets at the center of a dispute with China in a bid to boost Japan's claim to them, officials said.
The fiscal 2006 budget will cover fisheries projects, a planned survey vessel launch in 2007 and other costs related to the uninhabited Okinotorishima Islands, said metro government spokesman Akinori Muramatsu.
The uninhabited islets are used to demarcate Japan's exclusive economic zone, which, according to a U.N. convention, extends 200 miles from its shores.
Japan claims the two rocky outcrops about 1,700 km southwest of Tokyo are "islands."
Japan considers Okinotorishima part of Tokyo and has posted a large plaque to that effect on one of the islets, where it has also fortified with concrete to keep the reef above water at high tide.
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