China expressed frustration Monday after the foreign ministers of Japan and the other Group of Seven industrialized countries discussed the South China Sea situation during their annual meeting.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said some of the countries have ginned up tensions in the disputed area and the group as a whole should not be swayed by "selfish interests" if it wants to continue to play an important role in the international community.

Lu told a regular press briefing that the G-7 countries should instead deal with "urgent matters" facing the world.

The reaction came shortly after the foreign ministers of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States released a statement calling on all sides to refrain from constructing facilities in the sea for military purposes, in a veiled criticism of China's growing assertiveness in the region.

Lu, however, said he had not read the statement from the ministers after their two-day meeting in Hiroshima, and would make comments on the document as needed in the coming days.

The G-7 top diplomats, in a separate statement on maritime security, expressed "strong opposition to any intimating, coercive or provocative unilateral actions that could alter the status quo and increase tensions."

China has repeatedly criticized Japan, this year's G-7 chair, and the United States for speaking about its massive island-building activities in the South China Sea, calling them "outsiders" in territorial disputes with its smaller Asian neighbors, including the Philippines and Vietnam.