The Yomiuri Shimbun reported on May 2, 2016, that in what was supposed to be a friendly lunch in Tokyo on April 12, Chinese Ambassador to Japan Cheng Yonghua complained to Vice Foreign Minister Akitaka Saiki about a statement on maritime security issued the day before by the Foreign Ministers of the G-7 countries. Cheng Yonghua asked “Problems in the South China Sea should be resolved between the countries involved, so why is the G-7 speaking up? Why would Japan put out such a statement?” Akitaka Saiki replied: “This was the general opinion of the G-7, not just Japan. And it doesn’t even refer directly to China.” Sources were cited as saying that this explanation failed to convince Cheng. The part of the statement that concerned China was: “We ... urge all states to refrain from such actions as land reclamation ... as well as their use for military purposes and to act in accordance with international law including the principles of freedoms of navigation and overflight.”