BEIJING, Feb. 3 (Xinhua) -- China on Friday urged the United States to stop making wrong remarks on the issue of the Diaoyu Islands sovereignty after U.S. defense secretary James Mattis reportedly said the U.S.-Japan mutual defense treaty applies to the islands.
"The Diaoyu Island and its adjacent islets have been an inherent part of Chinese territory since ancient times, which is a unchangeable historical fact," Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said after Japanese media reported that Mattis reiterated the islands fall under Article 5 of the security treaty on his first Japan trip since taking over the Pentagon.
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