Washington should respect Beijing's key interests, Chinese Defense Minister Wei Fenghe said BEIJING, November 22.
/tass/. The responsibility for the current state of Sino-American relations lies with the United States. This was announced on Tuesday during a meeting with Pentagon Chief Lloyd Austin on the sidelines of the Meeting of Defense Ministers of ASEAN member countries with dialogue Partners in Cambodia, Defense Minister, member of the State Council of the People's Republic of China Wei Fenghe.
"The responsibility for the current situation facing Sino-American relations lies with the United States, not China," Wei Fenghe is quoted as saying in a message from the Ministry of Defense of the People's Republic of China on the WeChat social network.
China attaches great importance to the development of relations between the armed forces of China and the United States, but Washington must respect the key interests of Beijing, he said Wei Fenghe.
"China attaches great importance to the development of relations between the armed forces of the two countries, but the American side must respect the key interests of the PRC," the minister's words are quoted in the message of the Ministry of Defense.
Wei Fenghe also expressed hope that the United States will keep its promises, promote the implementation of the agreements of the two heads of state, as well as adhere to a reasonable and pragmatic policy towards China, promote the return of bilateral relations to the path of healthy and sustainable development.
During the meeting, Wei Fenghe and Lloyd Austin discussed the crisis in Ukraine and the situation around the Korean Peninsula.
"The sides exchanged views on global and regional issues, the crisis in Ukraine, as well as the situation in the South China Sea and on the Korean Peninsula," the Ministry of Defense of the People's Republic of China said in a statement.
In addition, they discussed the situation around Taiwan and the prevention of conflict situations between the armed forces of China and the United States.
The previous meeting of the heads of defense departments of China and the United States was held in June in Singapore on the sidelines of the regional security forum "Shangri-la Dialogue". However, after the visit of the Speaker of the House of Representatives of the US Congress Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan in August, relations between Beijing and Washington sharply deteriorated, and the dialogue between the defense departments was actually suspended.
