Full coverage: The South China Sea Issue

Ban has also held in-depth talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi. Their meeting covered several regional and international issues, as well as China's cooperation with the United Nations. At a press conference, following the meeting, Ban called on peaceful measures to resolve the South China sea issue.

"The Secretary General has said to me that he hoped to see a peaceful resolution of the disputes through dialogue. I'd like to say it's precisely the long-standing position of the Chinese government. Any effort to reject dialogue or to unilaterally initiate arbitration without the concent of the other party would be against the spirit of the international rule of law, and would distort the purposes of the UN convention on the law of the sea. This approach will not help to bring about a peaceful resolution of the disputes, on the contrary, it would only escalate the disputes and tension and should be resisted by all countries and peoples who uphold justice in the world," Wang said.

Ban said cooperation between China and the United Nations is strengthening all the time. He also praised China for establishing a peace and development fund for the UN, and its increased contributions to UN peace-keeping missions in South Sudan, Mali and elsewhere. He alluded to his visit to a Chinese army helicopter division on Thursday morning, where he was impressed by the training of the peacekeepers.