The Chinese foreign ministry on Monday slammed a Japanese envoy for saying that China is "a militarist country" and urged Japan to make efforts to improve the China-Japan relationship.

When attending an annual Global Times meeting on Saturday, Hidehisa Horinouchi, minister at the Japanese Embassy in Beijing said that China had altered the status quo in the East China Sea region unilaterally by establishing an Air Defense Identification Zone

He also said if China criticized Japan for passing a secrecy law that led toward militarism, then China had already become a militarist country.

"It is totally wrong and ridiculous for the relevant Japanese official to twist facts and use the occasion to attack China," Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei Monday said at a regular press conference.

"China is strongly dissatisfied with that," he said.

Japan's censure on the issue of the East China Sea is utterly groundless, Hong explained.

"We urge Japan to be modest and heed to the pleads and concerns of its Asian neighbors and the international community, and make efforts to improve bilateral ties."

Global Times