BEIJING, March 17 (Xinhua) -- China rebuffed a joint press release by Japan and East Timor that voiced concern over the South China Sea in Beijing on Thursday.
"Japan is not eligible to make comments on the South China Sea issue. However, it actively misled the public and smeared China in the international community recently, regardless of basic facts. I want to tell the Japanese side that doing so will be vain. It will only make the Chinese people see clearly some Japanese people's mentality," said Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang at a regular press briefing.
Reports said Japan and East Timor expressed "serious concern over the recent situation in the South China Sea" in a joint press release issued after the meeting between Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and East Timorese President Taur Matan Ruak in Tokyo on Tuesday. The two sides also mentioned a South China Sea arbitration filed by the Philippines.
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