China calls gas search ‘provocation

China has called Japan's plan to allow gas exploration in disputed waters a serious provocation.

Simmering tensions between the two Asian giants over a range of topics, especially what Beijing sees as Japan's failure to own up to wartime atrocities, erupted in China at the weekend.

The situation deteriorated after Japan announced it had started procedures to allocate rights for test-drilling in a disputed area of the East China Sea.