The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China announced on 16 September that the Chinese Government had decided to make its Partial Submission Concerning the Outer Limits of the Continental Shelf Beyond 200 Nautical Miles in the East China Sea to the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf ("the Commission") under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). Technical preparations for the Submission by the State Oceanic Administration are close to completion.

The Chinese Government submitted to the Commission its Preliminary Information Indicative of the Outer Limits of the Continental Shelf Beyond 200 Nautical Miles in May 2009, which stated that "China is making preparations for the submission of the information on the outer limits of the continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles" and that "China is intended to make a submission" "at an appropriate date".

According to relevant provisions of the UNCLOS, if the continental shelf of a coastal State extends beyond 200 nautical miles from the baselines from which the breadth of the territorial sea is measured, information on the limits of the continental shelf beyond 200 nautical miles shall be submitted by the coastal State to the Commission. The Commission shall make recommendations to the coastal State on matters related to the establishment of the outer limits of its continental shelf.

According to the long-standing position of the Chinese Government, the natural prolongation of the continental shelf of China in the East China Sea extends to the Okinawa Trough and beyond 200 nautical miles from the baselines from which the breadth of the territorial sea of China is measured.