Gas development in East China Sea not unilateral action: China

China's oil and gas development in the East China Sea is legitimate and conducted within waters under China's own jurisdiction, the foreign ministry said Thursday.

"The exploration is done in waters without dispute and within China's jurisdiction," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said at a regular news briefing, dismissing Japanese criticism of unilateral action.

She called on Japan to correctly understand the principled consensus on the East China Sea and stop making unreasonable demands.

China and Japan reached a principled consensus on the East China Sea issue in 2008, in which the two sides agreed to carry out joint exploration in the area.

During the third round of high-level maritime consultation in January, China and Japan agreed in principle to hold the fourth round in the latter half of 2015. Both sides are communicating about the time and venue of the consultation, Hua said.

The consultation, with its first round started in 2012, includes topics ranging from defense, law enforcement, oil and gas exploration, science and research to fisheries in the East China Sea.

Hua also denied reports on resumption of China-Japan leaders' visits next year.

"Such reports are not in accordance with fact," Hua said when commenting on a question regarding reports saying Japan had proposed resumption of visits between the two countries' leaders from next year, during the second China-Japan high-level political dialogue held in Tokyo last week.

Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi and Shotaro Yachi, national security adviser to Abe, co-chaired the dialogue. Endi