BEIJING, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- China said Wednesday that Japan's unlawful "purchase" of the Diaoyu Islands will definitely affect planned talks on a free trade area (FTA) between China, Japan and the Republic of Korea (ROK).

At a press conference here, Ministry of Commerce spokesman Shen Danyang said Japan's acts will impose adverse impact on Sino-Japanese economic and trade ties and will consequentially affect the planned trilateral FTA talks.

Shen said China is still studying the situation, but he did not answer reporter questions that whether the trilateral talks, scheduled to start within this year, have been canceled.