China summons Japan envoy in territorial row

BEIJING, Feb 6 (Reuters) China has expressed its ''extreme dissatisfaction'' and summoned a Japanese diplomat over Tokyo's complaints about a Chinese research ship in disputed waters in the East China Sea, the Foreign Ministry said today.

Japan's Coast Guard said on Sunday it detected the ship inside what Japan says is its exclusive economic zone near a natural gas field.

The field is the subject of a dispute between the Asian giants over who has the right to develop it.

''The Chinese side expresses extreme dissatisfaction with the Japanese side for whipping up this incident,'' the Foreign Ministry said in a statement on its Web site (www.fmprc.gov.cn).

The head of the Foreign Ministry's Asian Affairs Department had ''made representations'' to a Japanese embassy official, it said.

Japan's Coast Guard said the Chinese ship was seen conducting research near a chain of disputed islands known as the Senkakus in Japan and the Diaoyus in China, but Beijing said its ship had every right to carry out what it said was normal research.

''China's ownership of this territory is its indisputable sovereign right,'' the statement said.

But Japan says the incident ran contrary to a six-year-old agreement by which each side would notify the other of such activities in advance.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuhisa Shiozaki said Tokyo was in turn dissatisfied with China's response.

''The contents basically repeated their own position concerning the Senkaku islands, and we cannot accept it. We will continue to seek a more persuasive reply from China,'' he told a news conference.

Beijing and Tokyo have been grappling with a number of disputes over everything from energy resources and territorial boundaries to historical issues stemming from Japan's invasion and occupation of parts for China from 1931 to 1945.

But ties have warmed since Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe took office last September and made his first trip abroad an ice-breaking visit to China. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao is expected to make a reciprocal visit to Tokyo in April.

REUTERS RL VV0908