China said Thursday its dispatch of fisheries law enforcement vessels to waters off the Diaoyu Islands was in accordance with its laws and needs.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu was responding to a question concerning Chinese fisheries patrol boats' missions in waters near the Diaoyu Islands in East China Sea.

"The waters off the Diaoyu Islands are traditional Chinese fishing grounds," said the spokesman.

"We have always been, in accordance with Chinese law and regulations, dispatching fisheries law enforcement vessels to protect the Chinese fishermen," Ma said.

Chinese law enforcement vessels were deployed to patrol off the Diaoyu Islands after a collision between a Chinese trawler and two Japanese patrol boats on Sept. 7.

Japanese authorities seized the Chinese trawler and the crew, and detained the trawler's captain.

China decided to halt bilateral exchanges at and above provincial and ministerial levels, and suspended contact with Japan on the issue of expanding aviation rights between the two countries after Japan refused to release the captain but instead extended his detention.

On Tuesday, Ma urged Japan to take concrete actions to repair ties, rejecting Japanese Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara's comments that China's countermeasures were "hysterical."

Ma also called on Japan to show its sincerity towards improving ties and paving the way for a successful meeting between the leaders of the two countries.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan are expected to attend a series of meetings of East Asian leaders in Hanoi, Vietnam later this month.

At an informal meeting in Brussels early this month, Wen told Kan that the Diaoyu Islands were an inherent part of Chinese territory. They also agreed to step up people-to-people exchanges and inter-governmental communications and hold a high-level meeting at an appropriate time.