Japan pressed to talk before scouring seabed

Beijing - Tokyo should talk to Beijing about its proposed strategy to scour the seafloors near China's Diaoyu Islands for rare metals, as any unilateral move on its part may likely "trigger a clash" between the Asian neighbors, analysts told China Daily on Monday.

The Japanese government is expected to approve as early as June a new national strategy on securing undersea resources, Kyodo News Agency reported, citing a copy of the government document.

Under the new strategy, Japan is keen to explore the seabed within its exclusive economic zone (EEZ), an area that extends 200 nautical miles (370 kilometers) offshore or to the half-way points to neighboring countries, according to Kyodo. The areas to be explored cover 340,000 square kilometers (136,000 square miles) of the East China Sea and the Pacific Ocean, it reported.