China to report continental shelf limits soon

A Foreign Ministry spokesman said Monday that China will make its Partial Submission Concerning the Outer Limits of the Continental Shelf beyond 200 Nautical Miles in the East China Sea to the UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf.

Spokesman Hong Lei made the remarks when commenting on the Republic of Korea (ROK)'s recent decision to submit a document on the country's continental shelf limits to the commission.

According to media reports, the ROK is set to claim that the country's shelf naturally stretches to the Okinawa Trough in the East China Sea.

China has always upheld that the natural prolongation of its continental shelf in the East China Sea extends to the Okinawa Trough and beyond 200 nautical miles from the baselines from which the breadth of the territorial sea of China is measured. Therefore, some reports concluded that the ROK and China have a largely similar stance on the issue while the Japanese government rejected the two countries' joint preliminary claim filed in 2009.

China's preparations for the submission have been basically completed, Hong said.

He added China's stance on the East China Sea is consistent and clear, saying China has noted the reports on the ROK's plan.