China submits oceanic claims to United Nations

China has provided the United Nations with detailed claims to waters in the East China Sea, apparently padding out its legal argument in an ongoing territorial dispute with Japan.

The Foreign Ministry says it submitted documents on Friday claiming waters extending beyond its 200-nautical-mile (370-kilometre) exclusive economic zone.

It said geological features dictated that China’s claim extended to the edge of the continental shelf off the Chinese coast, about 200 kilometres from Japan’s Okinawa island.

Since its territorial dispute with Japan flared again in September, China has renewed an effort to spell out its claim to the waters, the fish in them and the oil, gas and other minerals beneath them.

Efforts to jointly exploit those resources with Japan are on hold.