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In a telephone
call with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, Chinese Foreign
Minister Wang Yi said the world is becoming a more challenging
place, according to a Chinese Foreign Ministry statement
released on Monday.
"As the U.S. seeks cooperation with China, it ought to respect
China's core interests and important matters of concern," the
statement paraphrased Wang as saying.
Wang explained to Kerry China's position on Taiwan and the South
China Sea, asking the United States to end arms sales to the
self-ruled island and stop "shows of force" with ship and
aircraft patrols close to Chinese-controlled island in the
disputed South China Sea, the statement added.
The U.S. angered China last week by approving a new round of
weapons sales to Taiwan.
Defeated Nationalist forces fled to the island at the end of a
civil war with the Communists in 1949 and Beijing has never
renounced the use of force to bring it under its control.
China has also been upset with what it sees as provocative U.S.
actions in the South China Sea, including the patrols.
The Pentagon said on Friday it was looking at Chinese complaints
that a B-52 bomber recently flew near a Chinese artificial
island in the South China Sea, a sensitive issue because the two
powers disagree over Beijing's territorial claims in the region.
At a regular news briefing in Washington, U.S. State Department
spokesman John Kirby confirmed Wang and Kerry discussed the
South China Sea. He declined to give details but said the U.S.
aim in such talks was to reduce tensions and "to express our
continued concern over the militarization of ... manufactured
land features."
Kirby also declined to discuss specifics of the B-52 flight but
said the United States has "made clear that, with respect to
international law, we'll fly, sail and operate our military
assets where we need to."
China claims almost all of the energy-rich waters of the South
China Sea, through which more than $5 trillion of maritime trade
passes each year. The Philippines, Brunei, Vietnam, Malaysia and
Taiwan have overlapping claims.
Wang and Kerry also discussed the crisis in Syria and the Iran
nuclear deal, China's Foreign Ministry added.
(Reporting by Ben Blanchard in Beijing; additional reporting by
David Brunnstrom in Washington; Editing by Richard Pullin and
Ken Wills)
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