China warns U.S.: "Our determination to safeguard its sovereignty and territorial integrity is as hard as a rock".

China warns U.S.: "Our determination to safeguard its sovereignty and territorial integrity is as hard as a rock". (SP).

China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi rebuked US State Secretary John Kerry's effort to limit what the US has called "manufacturing sovereignty" in the South China Sea.

China refused to back down to US Secretary of State John Kerry's demands that the country stops land reclamation on islands in the South China Sea.

The United States has been increasingly critical of China's activities in the South China Sea, which have included building up artificial islands in the area disputed by China, the Philippines, Vietnam and other countries. China does not consider the United States a party to the South China Sea dispute.

"I would like to reaffirm that China's determination to safeguard its sovereignty and territorial integrity is as hard as a rock," Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said.

China considers infrastructure improvements on islands in the South China Sea within its sovereign rights. Other countries involved in the dispute have also built up infrastructure and land reclamation efforts on islands. Read the full story here.

Three Chinese coast guard ships enter Japanese waters near Senkakus.

Three Chinese coast guard ships enter Japanese waters near Senkakus.(TJN).

NAHA (Jiji Press) — Three Chinese coast guard ships entered Japanese territorial waters around the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea on Thursday morning.

This is the first such intrusion by a Chinese government ship since Oct. 18 and the 26th this year.

The three ships — the Haijing 2101, the Haijing 2112 and the Haijing 2305 — crossed into the Japanese waters west-northwest of Uotsurijima, the largest island in the Japanese -administered Senkaku chain, around 10 a.m., according to the Japan Coast Guard’s 11th regional headquarters in Naha, the capital of the southernmost prefecture of Okinawa.

A Japan Coast Guard patrol ship warned the three vessels to leave the area, but they did not comply immediately. China claims the uninhabited islands, which it calls Diaoyu.