China rebukes Clinton for comments on disputed islets

BEIJING (REUTERS) - China rebuked US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Monday for her public backing of Japan's administration over a string of uninhabited islands in the East China Sea that are at the centre of a messy dispute between China and Japan.

Mrs Clinton, speaking after meeting Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida, repeated the longstanding US position acknowledging that the islands are under Japan's administration, raising China's ire.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said on Monday Mrs Clinton's remarks were a distortion of the facts.

"The relevant comments by the US side neglects the facts and confuses right with wrong. China is extremely dissatisfied and resolutely opposed to this," he told a daily news briefing.