Diaoyu are sovereign: Beijing

BEIJING - The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Monday strongly reprimanded Tokyo for its assertion that China is at fault for a maritime collision near the Diaoyu Islands in September, saying the fact is that Japan has no right to disturb or harass Chinese vessels in Chinese territorial waters.

It is illegal for the Japanese authorities to seize Chinese fishing ships in waters around the Diaoyu Islands, which have been part of China since ancient times, the ministry's spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said in a press release on the website.

The Japanese move "seriously infringed upon China's territorial sovereignty and legal rights of the Chinese fishermen. The so-called footage cannot change the facts, nor can it cover the illegality of the Japanese move," said the document.