China sends warning to Japan and the Philippines over ‘wrongful’ maritime talks

China has issued a legal warning to Japan and the Philippines over their planned maritime border talks, calling the move “internationally wrongful” and saying it had the right to hold both nations accountable.It is the latest protest from Beijing after Manila and Tokyo agreed in May to launch formal negotiations to delimit the maritime boundary of the exclusive economic zones and continental shelf between the two countries, which overlap with areas claimed by China.“The announcement, undertaken without consultation with China and in disregard of the region’s specific geographical circumstances, violates international law,” the China-institute-for-marine-affairs" class="entity-link entity-organization" data-entity-id="157981" data-entity-type="organization">Ministry of Natural Resources’ China Institute for Marine Affairs said in a legal opinion released on Thursday.