China not informed in advance of U.S. military operation: spokeswoman

China was not notified in advance of the U.S. military operation against Iran, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said on Monday.

Mao made the remarks in response to a question about the joint U.S.-Israel military strike on Iran.

"What I can tell you is that China was not notified about the U.S.'s military operations beforehand," she said.

Hong Kong and Tokyo stocks closed lower on Monday, following a joint military strike by the United States and Israel on Iran over the weekend.

Hong Kong's stock market ended lower Monday with the benchmark Hang Seng Index down 2.14 percent to close at 26,059.85 points.

The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index fell 1.78 percent to end at 8,701.91 points, and the Hang Seng Tech Index fell 2.89 percent to end at 4,989.37 points.

"Hong Kong and Tokyo's markets both suffered today as investors ran for cover. The Hang Seng was down 2.1 percent. Oil stocks are again the only ones gaining ground. We've talked about that already. Airline stocks throughout Asia [were] also hit hard - Cathay Pacific Airways' shares were down 4.1 percent," said Timothy Pope, a market analyst for China Global Television Network (CGTN).

"There were also some moves unrelated to Iran. The Chinese EV maker BYD was defying poor February sales numbers to post a more than 4 percent gain. Sales for BYD fell at the steepest pace since the beginning of 2020 for the automaker last month. But perhaps today's announcement of what it called the 'upcoming epic release of disruptive technology' is planned for later this week. Maybe that helps it to defy gravity a little bit. I feel like maybe the world's got enough epic disruption to be going on with right now but... who knows?" said the market analyst.

Tokyo stocks ended lower on Monday, with the benchmark Nikkei index plunging over 2 percent at one point, following the weekend launch of a joint military strike by the United States and Israel on Iran.

The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average ended down 793.03 points, or 1.35 percent, from Friday at 58,057.24. The broader Topix index, meanwhile, finished 40.26 points, or 1.02 percent, lower at 3,898.42.

"Over in Japan, the Nikkei 225 fell 1.3 percent. That was its biggest drop in five weeks. Oil refiners in Japan again, the few winners on today's markets, while investors generally were cashing out in favor of Japanese Government Bonds today. However, the Nikkei was probably primed for at least a small correction anyway as the index had a stellar February, adding more than 10 percent, and also closed at a record high on Friday. So investors just had a really good excuse today to book their profits. And we saw them really cashing out of tech stocks as well," said Pope.