Beijing has lashed out at Australia for issuing 'negative' remarks against China in relation to the South China Sea dispute in a defence White Paper.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying responded angrily to the negative comments made by Australia against China in its White Paper.

Like Us on Facebook

Hua said China was 'dissatisfied' with what it saw as 'negative' and 'unfair' comments about its activities in the the South China Sea in the document.

                                                           More sensitive

Without mentioning the exact negative comments, Hua urged Canberra to be more sensitive and cautious in dealing with Chinese affairs, particularly in regards to the issue of the disputed South China Sea.

"We noticed that this white paper made some remarks about South China Sea and East China Sea,"  Hua said.

"These remarks are negative and we are dissatisfied about this," she added.

                                                           Arms race

Hua said China does not want to see an arms race in the South China Sea and urged all relevant countries to give up military drills and withdraw their militaries from the region.

Australia's Defense Minister Marise Payne said that although Australia and China have a strong relationship, the South China Sea continues to be the  'point of difference.' between the two sides.

"We have a strong defence relationship but we do have a point of difference in this regard [the South China Sea] and we're certainly not going to take a backwards step in articulating our position," the defense minister said.

                                                         White paper

Reports said Canberra military officials have used the white paper to put pressure on the Australian government to send warships to the disputed islands in the international waterway.

"It's about time Australia must follow the United States' example," a high-ranking Australian military official said.

"We have to exercise that freedom of navigation and that means being prepared to sail our naval vessels, to fly our aircraft through that region and say we want unrestricted trade routes in this area," he added.

TagsWhite Paper, Australia, unfair comments, china, South China Sea