China's firm stance on territorial rows with Tokyo and also with a number of Southeast Asian nations over potentially resource-rich islands in the East and South China Seas has prompted concern across the region.

But in an interview with the official China Daily, Assistant Foreign Minister Hu Zhengyue said Beijing was dedicated to peaceful resolutions of all maritime disputes -- so long as outside parties were not involved in the talks.

"The security environment around China is very complicated, with traditional and non-traditional security challenges intertwined," Hu told the newspaper.

"A new security concept should be established with mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality and coordination at its core."

Ties between China and Japan have been badly strained since Tokyo arrested a Chinese trawler captain near a disputed island chain in the East China Sea in September, sparking a barrage of protests from Beijing.

Tokyo now plans to send around 100 soldiers to remote Yonaguni island, not far from the disputed islets, to carry out coastal patrols and surveillance of Chinese naval vessels, Jiji news agency quoted defence officials as saying.

China's increased assertiveness, particularly in the South China Sea, has also caused jitters among other neighbouring nations as well as the United States.

Beijing insists it has complete sovereignty over the Spratly and Paracel islands there, but the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan have competing claims.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited China in late October to urge Beijing to defuse maritime tensions with its neighbours and said at a regional summit in Vietnam that such rows should be settled by international law.

But Hu again rejected any US involvement in the disagreement.

"It is important to refrain from expanding, complicating or internationalising the disputes," he said.

"We believe that disputes in the South China Sea should be resolved peacefully through bilateral negotiations between the parties directly involved."

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