China today rejected the new Japanese Government’s representation to stop its ships from patrolling the waters around the disputed islands in the East China Sea and asked Tokyo to stop its own planes and ships from guarding the islands instead.

Asked for his reaction to the Japanese Government summoning the Chinese Ambassador and handing down a representation to stop patrolling by Chinese surveillance vessels in and around the islands, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman, Hong Lei told media here that Tokyo should stop “illegal activities” in Chinese waters.

China calls the islands as Diaoyu Dai and Japan as Senkakus.

The islands were administered by Japan until last September when China opposed Tokyo’s move to buy them from a private party and resume patrolling the area.

“We do not accept Japan’s representation”, Hong said adding China for its part has been asking Tokyo not to send its planes and ships to patrol the areas.

“China asks Japan to stop such illegal activities”, he reiterated.

This is the first such representation made by Japan after the new Government headed by Shinzo Abe came to power.

According to reports, Japan’s Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs Akitaka Saiki met Chinese Ambassador Cheng Yonghua in Tokyo to lodge a protest after four Chinese Government ships were spotted in the area yesterday.

Saiki “strongly demanded that such incidents do not happen again”, a Japanese Government statement said after the meeting.

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