Beijing  - Japanese Foreign Minister Hirofumi Nakasone arrived in China on Saturday, one day after Chinese officials protested his comments on a disputed group of islands.

Nakasone was scheduled to meet Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi for talks on bilateral, regional and international issues, Chinese officials said.

Japanese media said Nakasone wanted to "accelerate the build-up of mutually beneficial strategic relations with China" during his two-day visit, his first to China since he took office in September.

The two foreign ministers are also expected to focus on North Korea and a possible visit to China by Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso.

But the weekend talks are overshadowed by China's criticism of assertions by Nakasone and Aso this week that the US-Japanese Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security applies to the disputed Senkaku islands, which are known as the Diaoyu in China.

"Any words and deeds that bring the Diaoyu islands into the scope of the Japan-US Mutual Cooperation and Security Treaty are absolutely unacceptable to the Chinese people," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said in a statement on Friday.

Ma said the uninhabited group of islands located in the East China Sea were Chinese territory "since ancient times" and said China held "indisputable sovereignty" over them.

"We have lodged stern representations to Japan again and require the United States to clarify reports on the issue," he said, referring to reports that a US official made the same assertion as Nakasone.

The official China Daily said Chinese experts believed Japan's "toughened stance" on the islands, which are in an area containing rich gas and oil deposits, would cast a shadow over the weekend talks.

"The provocative remarks made by Japan are also likely to affect future high-level exchanges," the newspaper said. (dpa)