The Coconut Princess cruise ship [file photo]

However, the website of the People's Daily cited Deng as saying he had never spoken to the media about the issue.

"(I) don't understand anything about tourism in the Xisha Islands," Deng told the newspaper. "All the media reports are fabricated."

Li Guoqiang, a Chinese Academy of Social Sciences researcher who had taken part in a Xisha's tourism development feasibility study, said the islands' ecosystem was too vulnerable to accept large numbers of tourists at present.

"We haven't worked out a scientific plan that can open tourism and protect ecosystem at the same time," Li told the People's Daily, adding that obstacles remained concerning the islands' tourism capacity and safety issues.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei, in reply to a question about the possibility of promoting tourism in the Xisha, said yesterday that the islands' sovereignty indisputably belonged to China.