DPA
Beijing - The Chinese government on Thursday rejected state media reports that it planned to start tourist cruises to a disputed island group in the South China Sea.
A spokesperson from the China National Tourism Administration said the government had no current plans to develop tourism in the Xisha islands, known internationally as the Paracels.
The semi-official China News Service quoted the unidentified spokesperson as saying that earlier media reports, based on a broadcast by China National Radio, were inaccurate.
It said Deng Xiaogang, who was earlier quoted as a tourism official in the southern island province of Hainan, had left his tourism post in May.
The islands are at the centre of a diplomatic spat with Vietnam, which also claims them, after Chinese authorities detained 21 Vietnamese fishermen in nearby waters last month.
Despite a series of maritime agreements aimed at resolving tensions, each nation continues to protest the other's activities near the islands, which lie about 180 kilometres from each coast.
China occupied the islands after a clash in 1974.
Surin Pitsuwan, the secretary general of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN), on Monday said the 10-member group would deal jointly with China in trying to resolve ongoing disputes over the islands and other areas of the South China Sea.
China lays an all-encompassing claim to the South China Sea, a vital shipping area that is also believed to be rich in oil and mineral resources. The Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam and Brunei - all ASEAN members - claim overlapping parts of the sea.
The ASEAN other members are Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar, Singapore and Thailand.
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