Industry minister Shoichi Nakagawa rapped China on Friday for allowing anti-Japan rallies to take place as Tokyo was about to make a decision on starting preparations for test-drilling in disputed waters in the East China Sea.

The minister of economy, trade and industry defended Japan's move Wednesday to initiate procedures for granting exploratory drilling rights to Japanese firms amid a deterioration in bilateral ties, and said that joint resource development in the sea area as proposed by Beijing "is an option, but not a priority."

"When we see anti-Japan demonstrations (over last weekend) just before a Japan-China foreign ministers' meeting and amid Japan's decision-making process on test-drilling, we believe China should have considered the risk of offending Japan," Nakagawa told a regular news conference.