China has told Japan it will not accept “excessive” criticism over issues involving the East and South China seas when their leaders meet on the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit, diplomatic sources said Saturday.

The two countries are trying to arrange the meeting of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and President Xi Jinping on the fringes of the two-day G-20 summit of major economies beginning Sunday in Hangzhou, China.

Beijing has also pressed Tokyo not to take up the issue of Beijing’s disputes with neighbors in the South China Sea during the G-20 summit, according to the sources.

The move comes after an international tribunal ruled in July that China’s claims to most of the South China Sea, where Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam also have claims, have no legal basis.

Beijing has stepped up island construction and militarization of outposts in the disputed sea in an apparent attempt to unilaterally alter the status quo there.

In the East China Sea, a territorial row between Japan and China has heightened after China sent a record number of government and fishing vessels near the Japanese-controlled Senkaku Islands, which China claims and calls the Diaoyus. Some of them repeatedly entered Japanese waters in defiance of official protests from Tokyo.

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2016/09/04/national/politics-diplomacy/china-seeks-to-curb-japanese-criticism-over-maritime-issues-at-g-20-talks/#.V8zYZpN96og