China has the legitimate right to land a plane on its own territory, and Japan is merely sensationalizing the issue for political gain, experts said after Tokyo expressed concerns over the landing of a Chinese plane on an island in the South China Sea.

China has indisputable sovereignty over the Nansha Islands and their adjacent waters, foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying reiterated on Modnay.

Japan’s Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida told a press conference on Monday that Japan is "gravely concerned" over the landing of a Chinese plane in Yongshu Reef of Nansha Islands, and "Japan cannot accept [the act] which is escalating tensions [in the region]," the Kyodo News Agency reported on Monday.

China has completed the construction of an airport on Yongshu Reef, Hua said on Saturday, adding that "the Chinese government conducted a test flight to the airport with a civil aircraft in order to test whether or not the facilities on it meet the standards for civil aviation. Such activities fall completely within China’s sovereignty."