BEIJING - China on Friday rejected a Japanese judicial panel's decision to indict a Chinese captain involved in a collision with two Japanese patrol boats in the East China Sea last September.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said in a statement after a judicial panel of citizens in Japan voted for the mandatory indictment of Zhan Qixiong, the 42-year-old Chinese skipper.

"I would like to reiterate that the Diaoyu Islands and adjacent islets are an integral part of Chinese territory from ancient times," Ma said.

Any form of so-called judiciary procedures taken by the Japanese side against the Chinese trawler is unlawful and invalid, Ma added.

The Naha District Public Prosecutors Office will lodge a prosecution to the Chinese skipper in accordance with the request of the judicial panel.

After the collision last September, Japan seized the Chinese boat and its crew and only returned the crew and trawler after repeated Chinese representations.