16 July 2012 Last updated at 00:41 ET

China morning round-up: Wen Jiabao's economy warning

Mr Wen said officials should work to improve people's income amid the downturn

Premier Wen Jiabao has issued further warnings on China's economic prospects, newspapers report on Monday.

During a weekend tour in Sichuan province, Mr Wen told local officials that China's economic rebound was not yet stable and hardship could continue for a period of time, reports the Shanghai Daily.

He also stressed the importance of improving people's income, People's Daily and Guangzhou's Southern Metropolis Daily say, citing reports from the official Xinhua news agency.

China Daily says Vice-Premier Li Keqiang also toured Hubei province over the weekend, where he said China should expand consumption and restructure the economy through tax cuts, stimulate consumption and encourage private investment.

His remarks are echoed in an editorial in Shanghai's China Business News, which says private firms are being "squeezed out" by heavy tax burdens and entrepreneurs are loosing their enthusiasm to move ahead.

Newspapers such as the Global Times report the return to Tokyo of Japan's ambassador to China, amid ongoing tension between Tokyo and Beijing over the territorial dispute in the East China Sea.

An editorial in Beijing Times says the recall could easily be seen as a protest to China, while Beijing News' editorial suggests Tokyo might be trying to pacify populists in Japan by showing Tokyo is taking a tough stance.

On the South China Sea, Beijing Times and China Daily report a 30-boat fishing fleet has reached the disputed Spratly Islands under the escort of Chinese fishery patrol boat, while Shanghai Daily says the Chinese navy managed to refloat a warship that ran aground there on Friday, avoiding a new diplomatic stand-off with the Philippines.

The Global Times runs a bilingual editorial saying Japan, Vietnam and the Philippines have all "disgraced themselves" by "stepping up their rhetoric against China over territorial disputes".

In other news, the Global Times and Southern Metropolis Daily report China's top prosecutors' administration has issued "an edict" that requires prosecutors to watch out for corruption within government related to food safety violations.

A new Chinese language dictionary was published on Sunday, China Daily and Southern Metropolis Daily report, with the addition of many new phrases originating from the internet.

But phrases such as shengnan (leftover men) and shengnu (leftover women), meaning men and women who are deemed too old to be single, were not included, as one of the editors said these were disrespectful.