China has rejected a Japanese resolution calling on Beijing to withdraw the controversial air defence zone over the disputed East China Sea.
The lower house of the Japanese Diet on Friday had adopted a resolution urging China to rescind its recent establishment of the East China Sea Air Defence Identification Zone (ADIZ).
"The Japanese side has no right to make irresponsible remarks on China's establishment of the ADIZ," a statement of the Foreign Affairs Committee of China's top legislature, the National People's Congress (NPC) said, stressing that the NPC is resolutely opposed to Japan's so-called resolution.
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China's establishment of the ADIZ is reasonable, legitimate and in line with international law and practice, the statement said, state media reported.
China has always been firmly opposed to and never recognised Japan's unauthorised action to include the disputed islands called Diaoyu by China and Senkakus by Japan into Japan's ADIZ, it said.
It reiterated that the Diaoyu Island and its affiliated islets are China's inherent territory since ancient times and China has indisputable sovereignty over the islands.
The root cause of the current tensions in the East China Sea is in Japan, the statement said, urging Tokyo to cut off all provocative words and deeds and to make concrete efforts for the improvement of China-Japan relations as well as peace in the East China Sea and its airspace.