China was "shocked" by the Japanese Foreign Minister's recent remarks which contradict the China-Japan Joint Statement, said Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang on Thursday.

Qin said at a regular press briefing that China strongly protested against the remarks that grossly interfere in China's internal affairs.

When speaking with a parliamentary committee, Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso called Taiwan "a country".

Qin said the Taiwan and historical issues between China and Japan form the important basis of ties between the two countries. Japan has "made the commitment" in the three political documents governing the Sino-Japanese ties and China hopes Japan will strictly abide by it, Qin said.

The three documents are the China-Japan Joint Statement, the Peace and Friendship Treaty and the China-Japan Joint Declaration.

In the China-Japan Joint Statement, Qin said, the Japanese government vowed to fully understand and respect the stance adopted by the Chinese government that Taiwan is an inalienable part of the Chinese territory and to recognize the government of the People's Republic of China as the sole legitimate government of the whole of China.

"This is the solemn commitment made by the Japanese government on the Taiwan issue," he said.

A few months ago, Taro Aso was strongly criticized for commenting that Taiwan is "a country with a very high education level". An editorial carried by the New York Times said that his "sense of diplomacy is as odd as his sense of history."