China tells neighbours to keep off disputed islands

BEIJING May 12 (Reuters) - China has warned neighbours to stay off disputed islands in the South China Sea, telling the United Nations it holds "indisputable sovereignty" over the waters that are an arena for rising regional tension.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said his government made a submission to the United Nations asserting that Beijing will not tolerate other countries claiming the islands, which lie near vital shipping lanes and which some believe may be rich in oil and gas.

"China possesses indisputable sovereignty, sovereign rights and jurisdiction over the South China Sea islands and their near seas," Ma said in the statement put on the Ministry's website (www.mfa.gov.cn) late on Monday.

"China will continue protecting its maritime rights and interests based on its consistent position and stance," said Ma, adding that Beijing was open to negotiations on sea boundaries.

Ma's statement marked no change in China's general stance on the islands, including what Beijing calls the Nansha and Xisha islands, also called the Spratly and Paracel islands.

But alongside recent rival statements about the islands, Beijing's actions underscore the growing tensions over the strategically important seas.

The Spratlys are claimed by China and, in full or in part, Taiwan, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei.

The U.N. Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf is taking submissions in an effort to clarify the outer limits of states' sea claims when the continental shelf -- one marker used for such claims -- extends more than 200 nautical miles beyond a baseline, such as their coasts.

Often these claims overlap and clash with other maritime claims.

Vietnam has also recently pressed its claims over the South China Sea islands and in March the Philippines signed a law laying claim to part of the Spratlys. In March, too, Malaysia's prime minister landed on parts of the Spratly archipelago to assert his country's claim.

The South China Sea is the shortest route between the Pacific and Indian oceans, and has some of the world's busiest shipping lanes.

Chinese ships have also recently jostled U.S. navy ships in waters of its coast, warning Washington not to operate vessels in the seas Beijing says are part of its exclusive zone.

(Reporting by Beijing newsroom; Editing by Nick Macfie)