China has urged Japan to "respect history and stop provoking" after Tokyo labeled China's Diaoyu Islands as its "territory" in guidelines for elementary and high schools.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said on Wednesday that Japan should "educate the younger generation with a correct outlook on history and showcase sincerity for improving the China-Japan relationship with tangible actions".

The Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology issued a new learning guideline for schools in the country on Tuesday and for the first time labeled the islands as Japan's "territory", Japan's Kyodo News Agency reported.

In response, Geng said at a Wednesday regular media conference in Beijing that the Diaoyu Islands and its adjacent islets have been, and are, inherent Chinese territory.

China's determination and will to safeguard territorial sovereignty is unswerving, Geng said.

"Whatever the Japanese side says and does will never bring changes to the fact that the Diaoyu Islands belong to China," Geng said.

The China-Japan relationship plunged in 2012 when Tokyo unilaterally decided to "nationalize" the islands.