Japanese Congress is expected to approve an act this month aimed at legalizing its maritime rights and attempting to contain China's oil and gas exploitation on the East China Sea near the disputed areas, Phoenix television reported on January 8.

According to a report on the Phoenix website citing Japanese newspaper Sankei Shimbun, the ruling Japanese Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) will make a proposal to pass the "Fundamental Law of the Ocean", to which the Democratic Party, the largest opposition party, has expressed consent.

A special LDP commission in charge of Japan's oceanic activities urged the government to concentrate the rights concerning Japan's thalassian interests from eight ministries and to legislate the use of the unified power, according to the Sankei Shimbun.

In the draft, which was outlined by a committee under the hard-line Minister of State for Defense Shigeru Ishiba, the LDP propose to establish an oceanic policy minister post and a collective oceanic office led by the Prime Minister to plan the resource exploitation and security of its marine belt.

According to the Sankei Shimbun, trying to minimize China's activities in the waters near the Japanese marginal sea is the major motivation behind the legislation.

China and Japan have negotiated on how to separately exploit natural resources on the East China Sea several times, but have yet to reach any agreement. China said all of its exploitations are on areas near land, and don't enter disputed areas.

Professor Gao Hong with the Institute of Japanese Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told Phoenix TV that Japan has set the pace of oceanic policies and gained the advantage. According to Gao, Japan began to focus on the sea as early as 1983, when it started exploring its benthal resources that were estimated to be worth tens of trillions of yen.

But the Daily Yomiuri still criticized Japan's maritime policies, saying they are defective, as Japan has traditionally been a country that relied on the ocean.

China controls three million square kilometres of sea area, much smaller than Japan's area of 4.5 million square kilometres. Disputes over controversial water territory between the two countries are not anticipated to cease because of national pride and also the rich underwater resources that are becoming vital in today's world with its increasing energy needs.