On Tuesday, Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said some people in Japan have been hyping up the South China Sea issue, playing up tension, and making regional countries oppose each other.

"Japan has an inglorious record on the history of the South China Sea issue. We hope it will not continue such inglorious record. We hope regional countries will remain highly vigilant against Japan's intentions," Hong said in a daily news briefing.

Hong made the remarks after Japanese Vice-Foreign Minister Shinsuke Sugiyama was reported to have said he is closely watching the ruling on the South China Sea’s arbitration case.

Sugiyama was quoted by Kyodo as saying, "after closely studying the results, it would be appropriate to raise our voices in the international community individually, jointly, together with the Group of Seven industrialized nations and with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations."