TOKYO — Japan warned China on Wednesday that its extensive land reclamation in the disputed South China Sea does not make ownership "a done deal," after Beijing announced it had almost finished its controversial island-building.
The rebuke came after Washington urged China against militarization of the area, saying it risked escalating tensions, even as satellite pictures have shown a runway long enough to let even the biggest aircraft land.
It also came as details emerged of a joint exercise between Japan and the Philippines, as the relationship blossoms between the two regional powers most prepared to push back against Beijing's perceived rising aggression.
"We hold serious and significant concerns about the unilateral actions aimed at changing the status quo, which are bound to increase tension," the Japanese government's top spokesman Yoshihide Suga told reporters.
"With the completion of the reclamation, we must not accept the land reclamation as a done deal. We demand (China) not take unilateral actions that bring irreversible and physical changes," he added.
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