Malaysia has denied international media allegation that it was not concerned for MH370 passengers families and thus did not send a representative to a briefing in China.

Foreign Minister Anifah Aman said the China Working Group had a meeting with the Malaysian ambassador to China, Iskandar Saruddin on March 13, at 8.20pm.

The Chinese government was led by Liu Zhi, the deputy director-general of Beijing local authority.

Also present were representatives of the Department of Civil Aviation (DCA), Malaysia Airlines (MAS) and several officials of the Malaysian embassy in Beijing.

"During the meeting, Liu told ambassador Iskandar Saruddin that for security purposes, he was advised to be absent from the briefing with the passengers families.

"Iskandar would only be present if there was important information to be announced, for example the discovery of the missing aircraft," he said in a statement in Kuala Lumpur today.

"The decision, as stated by Liu was to avoid any uncontrolled action by the passengers families against the embassy officials, including the ambassador."

Anifah said Iskandar told Liu he agreed with the advice and would only attend important briefing sessions with the passengers families.

He expressed gratitude to the international community, particularly the Asean countries involved in the search and rescue (SAR) operation.

The MAS Boeing 777-200 aircraft carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing went missing on March 8.

- Bernama