China said Saturday that Tokyo had "no right" to demand compensation over a collision between a Chinese trawler and Japanese coastguard vessels that led to a major diplomatic crisis.
The incident occurred in September last year in a disputed area of the East China Sea — offshore islands called Senkaku in Japanese and Diaoyu in Chinese which are claimed by both countries.
The Japanese Kyodo news agency reported on Thursday that the Japanese coastguard had sent a bill of 170,000 dollars to the Chinese trawler captain for damage caused by the collision.
"Japan should reflect on its attitude concerning the incident and has no right to require so-called compensation," said Ma Zhaoxu, a spokesman for the Chinese foreign ministry.
Ma reiterated that the island chain had been part of Chinese territory "since time immemorial".
Relations between the rival nations went through their worst crisis for years after the trawlerman's arrest and 14-day detention by Japanese authorities.
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