Japan has joined Vietnam and the Philippines in denouncing China's latest military posturing in the disputed waters of the South China Sea after Beijing landed a plane on an airstrip it built on one of the contested islands in the Spratlys archipelago.

In a press conference on Monday, Japan Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida said Japan is 'gravely concerned'  about the recent action of China in 'unilaterally changing the status quo' in the region and disregarding the concerns of the claimant-countries to the Spratlys group of islands.

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"Japan is gravely concerned about China's act, which is a unilateral change of the status quo in the region and an attempt to make Beijing's massive and fast-paced land reclamation work in the disputed seas "a fait accompli," Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida said.

Japan said China's landing of a plane in the disputed Fiery Cross Reef was 'unacceptable' and has escalated tensions resulting from the already volatile situation in the South China Sea.

Kishida said Tokyo's concern over China's actions is shared by the international community and Japan will continue to seek dialogue with the concerned claimant-countries in order to protect the 'freedom of the seas.'

The Chinese Foreign Ministry had dismissed Vietnam's protests over Beijing's landing of a plane on the contested Fiery Cross Reef in the Spratlys saying the test flight was "within China's sovereignty.'

Vietnam handed a protest letter to the Chinese Embassy on Saturday claiming that China had violated its sovereignty in the Spratlys.

In the protest letter, Hanoi said the violation has disturbed the peace and stability in the region and that China must not repeat the action at any time.

China said it used a civil aircraft to land on the newly-built airstrip to check whether the facilities would meet the standards for civil aviation.

Reports said the plane landing on an airstrip in a disputed island was the first for China.

The Fiery Cross Reef is one of the many artificial or artificially enlarged islands that China has created in the Spratlys in the South China Sea.

China is claiming almost all of the groups of islands, islets, reefs in the South China Sea, dismissing the overlapping claims of Vietnam, Philippines, Taiwan, Brunei, and Malaysia.

It is believed that the South China Sea contains huge deposits of gas and oil and more than $5 trillion in maritime trade passes through the region each year.

TagsChina test flight in Fiery Cross Reef, military posturing