"Due to other tasks at this time by the concerned departments, China will not participate in this activity," a foreign ministry spokesman told AFP, refusing to comment further.

His comments come just a day ahead of the scheduled joint exercises that also involve Russia, South Korea and Canada.

A Japanese coast guard statement released on Tuesday said the exercises, due to last until Thursday, were meant to simulate a ship carrying weapons of mass destruction trying to enter China's eastern port of Shanghai.

But a revised statement released late Friday took out the reference to weapons of mass destruction and instead said the mock ship would be "suspected of being engaged in illegal activities such as smuggling goods and people."

Japan, which proposed the exercise, still hoped China would take part, said Akihisa Watanabe, an official at the Japan Coast Guard's guard and rescue division.

"We have corrected the scenario and we are in the process of reinviting" China, Watanabe told AFP.

Asked why Japan changed the exercise's scenario, he said, "The purpose of the drills has nothing to do with weapons of mass destruction."

In the drill, China was to have refused the ship entry and asked for assistance from the other five nations to track the ship to Russia's eastern city of Vladivostok.

According to the statement, the exercise was agreed to in September 2005 "to contribute to strengthen security in the northwestern Pacific by upgrading the capability of the participating organs to track down suspect ships."

The Chinese foreign ministry spokesman refused to comment on whether Chinese police and maritime authorities had earlier agreed to participate.

However a Chinese security official with knowledge of the exercise told AFP on condition of anonymity that China pulled out on Wednesday.

"We decided not to participate in this exercise because our forces have other tasks," the official said.

"We will not be sending anyone to observe this exercise."

Press reports out of Tokyo said the exercise was an informal part of the US-led Proliferation Security Initiative, which aims to track and intercept on the high seas ships suspected of carrying weapons of mass destruction.

China has not signed on to the initiative out of concerns over violations of international maritime law. Both China and South Korea shunned an October 2004 exercise in Japanese waters designed as a signal to North Korea.

China fears that the latest exercise may dissuade its ally Pyongyang from returning to six-nation talks on ending its nuclear program, a Western diplomat in Beijing said on condition of anonymity.

"China would not be participating in this because this exercise is only for countries participating in the PSI," the diplomat told AFP.

burs-sct/mtp

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