国内英语新闻:China dismisses Japan's claim of tiny atoll in Pacific

BEIJING, Jan. 19 (Xinhua) -- China on Tuesday objected Japan's claim on a tiny atoll in the Pacific Ocean, saying international laws saw no justification for Japan's latest move on the atoll, some 1,700 kilometers south of Tokyo.

The Japanese government reportedly submitted a bill to the congress on Monday, which proposes the protection of the coastlines of remote islands, including the so-called Okinotori island.

This was widely seen as Japan's latest step to change the Okinotori into an "island", which would imply Japan's rights to claim Okinotori's surrounding area as an exclusive economic zone.

But China insisted that Okinotori is merely a rock rather than an island, which can be used to claim an EEZ around.

"The Okinotori atoll is only about 10 square meters above the sea at the flood-tide and is nothing but a rock according to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLS)," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu told a regular press briefing Tuesday in Beijing.

Japan's move to claim rights over such a large marine area, centered on the Okinotori atoll, is against international laws and would gravely damage the interests of the international community as a whole, Ma said.

According to Article 121 of the UNCLS, rocks that cannot sustain human habitation or an economic life of their own shall have no exclusive economic zone or continental shelf.

Japan has been trying to make the atoll a de facto island by a spate of moves in years.

Since 1987, Japan has spent some 300 million U.S. dollars in building concrete wall around the Okinotori atoll, and has completed a solar-powered lighthouse on the atoll.

Besides, Japan has allocated part of its fiscal 2010 draft budget for infrastructure building on Okinotori atoll to keep it from submerging into the sea.

"Japan's such actions and claims are obviously untenable in legal terms and other countries have also raised their concerns," Ma said. "The construction of facilities, however, will not change its legal status."

Some analysts say Japan tries to create an "artificial island" to meet the international laws because the Okinotori, which lies between Taiwan and Guam in a strategically important position, could win the country an EEZ and rich resources in the surrounding sea area.

Japan could claim the EEZ of about 400,000 square kilometers and continental shelf of about 740,000 square kilometers around the Okinotori atoll as long as it proves to be an "island".

"The activities Japan has conducted is obviously attempting to build a artificial island, which, however, can not enjoy the same status of a natural island that can claim an EEZ around it," said Zhou Zhonghai, an expert on international laws from the China University of Political Science and Law.

"Japan is trying to pass a bill at home to challenge the world," Zhou added.

"Japan's claim has harmed other countries' interests of navigation and marine survey in the sea waters around the Okinotori, and is contrary to the principle of fairness, " said Jin Yongming, a fellow researcher from the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences.