BEIJING  -- China on Saturday urged Japan to proceed with discretion in word and deed over the Diaoyu Islands issue.

China's Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi (R) welcomes his Japanese counterpart Hirofumi Nakasone at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing, February 28, 2009. Nakasone is on a official visit to Beijing where the two sides are expected to discuss the current economic crisis as well as the North Korea issue. [Agencies]

Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi expatiated China's stance over the issue when holding talks with his Japanese counterpart Hirofumi Nakasone, urging Japan to act with discretion in word and deed over the Diaoyu Islands issue.

Nakasone arrived here Saturday afternoon for his two-day visit to China.

During the talks, both sides made candid and in-depth exchange of views over regional and international issues of common concern, and agreed to fulfil the consensus reached by leaders of the two countries and maintain steady development of China-Japan relations.

Both sides agreed to strengthen cooperation in bilateral, regional and international issues to cope with the international financial crisis, noting that their cooperation is in the interests of both peoples, and conducive to the world peace, stability and development.

Before his China tour, Nakasone said, in the wake of Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso's remarks on Thursday, that the Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security between Japan and The United States was applicable to the Diaoyu Islands.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu rejected Nakasone's remarks later in a press release, saying that any words and deeds that bringing the Diaoyu Islands into the scope of the Japan-US Mutual Cooperation and Security Treaty are absolutely unacceptable for the Chinese people.

Ma stressed that the Diaoyu Islands and adjacent islets had been Chinese territories since ancient times and China held "indisputable" sovereignty over the islands.