China slams G7 attitude towards South China Sea

"Given the sluggish global economic recovery at the moment, the G7 should have focused on global economic governance and cooperation instead of hyping up maritime issues and fueling tensions in the region," said Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang.

"China is strongly dissatisfied" with the attitude of the group, the spokesman added.

'Intimidating, coercive'

On Monday, following a two-day meeting of G7 foreign ministers, a joint statement issued by the diplomats called on countries to forgo "intimidating, coercive or provocative unilateral actions" in the South China Sea, without mentioning China by name. However, the controversy surrounding Beijing's military and land reclamation projects in the area is well known as parts of the body of water are also claimed by Taiwan, Brunei, Malaysia, Vietnam, and the Philippines.

The G7, which includes the US, Japan, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, the UK and the EU, met in Hiroshima, Japan earlier in the week to talk international security.

It was in response to the "Hiroshima Declaration" statement that asks "all states to refrain from such actions as land reclamations" that China has summoned the Japanese ambassador and the deputy ambassadors from the other G7 countries.

Lu Kang emphasized that China seeks a "peaceful" solution to territorial disputes in the South China Sea without elaborating on how that might be accomplished.

es/jil (AP, dpa)