Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun

China has repeatedly made its solemn position clear, and we wish to reiterate that China has an exclusive economic zone and continental shelf in the waters east of Taiwan Island. Relevant activities carried out by Chinese authorities in those waters are legitimate, lawful and beyond reproach, Guo Jiakun, a spokesperson for China's Foreign Ministry, said at a regular press conference on Monday.

The spokesperson's remarks were made in response to a media inquiry that a Japanese government spokesperson claimed that activities by the China Coast Guard (CCG) in Japan's exclusive economic zone south of Yonaguni Island, as well as China's sovereignty position over those waters, are unacceptable.

Guo said that Japan and the Philippines bypassed China and unilaterally launched so-called maritime "delimitation talks," which seriously violate international law, including the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), as well as the basic norms governing international relations, and seriously infringe upon China's maritime rights and interests. China will never allow this.

Global Times