A Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson on Thursday denounced Japan's recent move to expand its continental shelf in contravention of relevant amendments proposed by the United Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (UNCLCS).

According to media reports, the Japanese government decided at a cabinet meeting on Tuesday to issue relevant decrees to expand the continental shelf of the Ogasawara Plateau, which is located on the east side of the Father Island in the Ogasawara Islands, by 120,000 square kilometers.

In response to a related query at a daily press briefing, spokesperson Mao Ning said China noticed that the UNCLCS in 2012 proposed revisions to Japan's submission concerning the outer continental shelf of Ogasawara. Instead of making revisions as proposed by the Commission, Japan has unilaterally expanded its relevant claims.

"What Japan has done contravenes the provisions of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and the international practice," Mao said.

Mao emphasized that the limits of the outer continental shelf established by the coastal states on the basis of the recommendations of the Commission are definitive and binding, otherwise they should not be recognized by the international community.

China believes that any party to the Convention submitting information regarding the outer continental shelf should strictly abide by the principle of the common heritage of mankind established in the Convention, and must not erode the international seabed area or harm the interests of the international community as a whole, she added. 

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