A file photo of Hua Chunying. [Photo: Chinanews.com]

The Chinese government is brushing aside Japanese suggestions that a Chinese naval vessel broke international law by entering into Japanese territorial waters.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying says the Japanese government has no right to issue a complaint about the recent move by the Chinese navy, saying the Chinese ship had every right to do what it did.

"According to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and relevant regulations, the Tokara Strait is territorial waters that used for international navigation. And the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea stipulates that any ship has no need to get permission from relevant countries when it exerts the right of transit passage in territorial waters and straits used for international navigation."

A Chinese naval vessel recently sailed through the Tokara Strait, which is located where the East China Sea and the Pacific Ocean meet.

The Japanese side has complained the Chinese side didn't inform Japanese authorities before making the move.