Japan has joined India, the Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam and Taiwan to lodge protests against China over its new "standard map" for including the disputed Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea as part of its territory.
Japan's chief cabinet secretary Hirokazu Matsuno told the media in Tokyo on Tuesday that Japan has lodged a strong protest to China through diplomatic channels over a new map released by Beijing last month.
Tokyo urged Beijing to rescind the map because it has a description based on China's unilateral claims on the Senkaku Islands in southern Japan's Okinawa Prefecture, Matsuno has been quoted by the Japanese media.
The map describes the Senkakus as the Diaoyu Islands, the Chinese name for the islands.
The Japanese-administered islands in the East China Sea are claimed by Beijing.
The islands are "indisputably an inherent part of Japanese territory, both historically and under international law," Matsuno said.
Japan "responds in a calm and resolute way, based on its policy to stand firm in protecting people's lives and properties, as well as the country's land, seas and airspace," he said.
Reacting to Japan's protest, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning rejected Tokyo's claim over the islands.
"Diaoyu Dao and its affiliated islands have all along been China's territory," Mao said.
"It is only natural that they are marked as Chinese territory on a map. China does not accept Japan's protest," she said. -- PTI