ISTANBUL 

China "respects" lawful navigation rights of all countries in the waters of the Taiwan Strait, the country's Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said Friday after a Japanese warship sailed through the Taiwan Strait last week.

During a news conference in Beijing, Guo said: "While China respects the lawful navigation rights of all countries in the relevant waters of the Taiwan Straits, it resolutely opposes any country taking provocative actions in the name of 'freedom of navigation' and threatening China's sovereignty and security."

The Foreign Ministry spokesman was answering a question regarding Taiwan claiming that 46 Chinese military aircraft crossed the Taiwan Strait in the past 24 hours and if that was related to the Japanese warship's passage.

The Japanese destroyer, the Takanami, passed through the Taiwan Strait last week, shortly after a Chinese fighter jet came dangerously close to a Japanese patrol aircraft above the Pacific Ocean, a day after Japan reported spotting two Chinese aircraft carriers operating in the western Pacific for the first time.

Separately, Taiwan's Defense Ministry Friday said it detected 24 People's Liberation Army (PLA) sorties of aircraft around the island from 8.30 a.m. local time (0030GMT), adding that 15 of the aircraft reportedly crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait.