Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Kong Quan said in Beijing Monday that China has indisputable sovereignty over the Diaoyu Islands in the East China Sea.

A journalist quoted a report as saying that some people from Hong Kong and the Chinese mainland had gone to the Diaoyu Islands to proclaim that the islands belong to China. Kong was asked to comment on the report.

Kong said the Diaoyu Islands and adjacent islets have been an integral part of China's territory since ancient times. China owns indisputable sovereignty over them.

Any attempt that conspires to steal China's territory will never succeed, Kong said.

(Xinhua News Agency June 24, 2003)