News / China

China 'opposed to countries hyping up South China Sea for personal gain'

Thursday, 26 May 2016 5:19 PM [ Last Update: Thursday, 26 May 2016 5:20 PM ]

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying

China’s Foreign Ministry warned Thursday that the G7 group of countries should refrain from interfering in regional issues, emphasizing that the South China Sea issue has nothing to do with the group or any of its members.

"China is resolutely opposed to individual countries hyping up the South China Sea for personal gain," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said at a regular briefing in Beijing.

"G7 should focus on its own duties, that is economic cooperation, it should not point fingers at something outside its portfolio."

The remarks come as Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States on Thursday began a two-day summit of the G7 in Ise, central Japan.

The summit is expected to focus on economy, trade, foreign policy and climate change as well as energy. The group will also discuss the fight on terrorism and Europe’s refugee crisis.

However, a sensitive topic of discussion at the summit was China’s claims over the South China Sea, which has become a source of tension between China, the US, and some other regional countries also laying claims to areas in the sea. A set of disputed islands in the South China Sea are claimed, among other countries, by Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, and Brunei, which all have overlapping claims with China.

The G7 agreed on the need to send a strong message on territorial disputes in the South China Sea.

Leaders from the European Union (EU), Italy, Germany, the US, Japan, France, the UK, and Canada pose for a photo during the first day of the G7 summit in Ise, Japan, May 26, 2016. (Photo by AFP)

Reacting to the developments, the official Xinhua news agency said in a commentary that the group "should mind its own business" and accused Japan of exploiting its host status to try to isolate China.

Beijing has long said that intervention in the affairs of the region by extra-regional countries only aggravates tensions.

Washington and its regional allies have been accusing Beijing of attempting to take advantage of the situation and gradually assert control in the South China Sea.

Beijing, however, rejects the allegations and accuses the United States of meddling in the regional issues and deliberately stirring up tensions in the South China Sea.

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