Corrected - Attempts to 'change status quo' continuing in East and South China Sea - Japanese official

Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe arrives at the ASEAN Summit in Vientiane, Laos September 7, 2016. REUTERS/Soe Zeya Tun

(Corrects source to Japanese senior govt. spokesman in headline and paragraph 1) VIENTIANE (Reuters) - Attempts to change the status quo have "been continuing for the past few months" in the East and South China Seas, a Japanese official said on Thursday quoting Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, in an apparent criticsm of China. Abe made the remarks at an East Asia Summit in Vientiane, Laos, during which security in the South China Sea was addressed. "Unilateral attempts to change the status quo have been continuing for the past few months in the East China Sea and South China Sea," said the official. "I am deeply concerned about that." (Reporting by Kiyoshi Takenaka; Writing by Amy Sawitta Lefevre; Editing by Nick Macfie)