China urged Japan not to hinder efforts made by China and Southeast Asian nations to maintain peace in the South China Sea.
“We noticed that Japan recently has been hyping the tense situation in the South China Sea, kidnapping and instigating relations between regional countries, and obstructing efforts made by China and Southeast Asian nations to maintain peace in the South China Sea,” said Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying at a daily press briefing, media reported.
The remarks came while Hua was commenting on a joint document issued by the 7th Mekong-Japan Summit on July 4 that raised concern over the South China Sea situation.
She urged Japan to stop hyping the South China Sea issue and maintain regional peace and stability with concrete actions.
Earlier, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said that, “Japan needs to build a relationship of trust with China. … Shouting from the housetops about the Chinese threat will not solve the problem,” Hamada Kazuyuki said.
The dispute focuses on the Spratly Islands, a group of more than 750 islands and reefs in the South China Sea, where China has been constructing artificial islands on coral reefs for the past few months.
The archipelago, holding potentially significant oil and gas reserves, is the subject of a territorial dispute between several regional countries.
