China on Tuesday refuted the remarks by a Japanese party leader on China's increased military capacity.

"It is natural for China to maintain a certain amount of defence power, as it is a sovereign state with long borders on land and in sea, and it gives no cause for criticism, " said Qin Gang, spokesman of the Foreign Ministry.

Qin told a regular press conference that China's purpose is for maintaining the country's sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Shoichi Nakagawa, policy chief of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), said China could bring Japan under its control in the future given Beijing's increasing military capabilities.

"If something goes wrong in Taiwan in the next 15 years, we (Japan) might also become just another Chinese province within 20 years or so," Kyodo news agency quoted Nakagawa as saying in a speech on Monday.

Qin said Japan should be clear about China's stance on the military spending.

He said China's military expenditure is 67 percent of Japan's and its per capita is seven percent.

"It is very strange that Japan, with only one-twenty-fifth of the size of China's land and one-tenth of the population of China, possesses such a huge military expenditure," he said.

"Meanwhile, it claims that China is a threat. We should question: What is the real purpose and motivation behind these claims?" Qin asked.

Qin said China is a peace-loving nation that sticks to peaceful development, noting "China will not threaten any other countries, nor be coerced by any other nations."

The spokesman said the Taiwan issue is China's internal affairs, and he hoped Japan would observe the three political documents to ensure the healthy development of bilateral relationship.

Source: Xinhua