It's All About Gas?

Simon World has a nice little note here at Map-makers, on the Chinese efforts to find the energy they need to drive their economy (along with oil deals with some of the best loved countries in the world - Sudan and Iran). In this case, they are apparently exploring for natural gas in an area that Japan has claimed as its "exclusive economic zone."

The Japanese aren't pleased by this development and have "lodged a protest."

By the way,

The control of the oceans is currently regulated by the 1982 Law of the Sea Convention that went into effect on November 16, 1994. This law defines oceanic jurisdiction for all nations. It establishes the principle of a 200-nautical-mile limit on a nation's exclusive economic zone (EEZ) whereby a nation controls the undersea resources, primarily fishing and seabed mining, for a distance of 200 nautical miles from its shore.

According to Muncel Chang, Department of Geography, Butte College (California) as found here. For more info about the Law of the Sea Conventions, look here.