China doesn't dispute Japan's sovereignty over Okinawa and other islands in the Ryukyu chain, a senior Chinese military official said, dismissing recent commentary on the matter by state-backed academics as scholarly musings.

"Please be assured that China's position has not changed [on Japan's sovereignty over the Ryukyu Islands]," Lt. Gen. Qi Jianguo, deputy chief of general staff of the People's Liberation Army, told the Shangri-La Dialogue, an annual security conference in Singapore, Sunday.

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