Wang Wenbin speaks at a regular press conference of China's Foreign Ministry on Dec. 17, 2020. (Photo from the Foreign Ministry website)
BEIJING, Dec. 17 (Xinhua) -- The United States should take full responsibility for the failure to hold, as scheduled, the 2020 China-U.S. military maritime consultative agreement meetings, a Chinese navy spokesperson said on Thursday.
Liu Wensheng, a spokesperson for the Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy, made the remarks when asked about the U.S. accusation on China's refusing to participate in the meetings scheduled to take place from Monday to Wednesday.
"The U.S. side did not abide by the consensus reached between the two sides and called black white to make the accusation," he said.
Liu said two online meetings were to take place this year, as agreed by the defense departments of both countries. He added that China had offered on Nov. 18 its suggestions on the topics and arrangements.
"The U.S. side insisted on forcing its unilateral agenda, arbitrarily reducing the length of the annual meetings and changing the nature of the talks," Liu said. "The U.S. side even tried to force China's participation without an agenda agreed by both sides."
These unprofessional, unfriendly and unconstructive actions reflect the U.S. side's consistent bullying attitude, according to Liu.
Noting that mutual respect and reaching consensus through consultation should be the principles for China and the United States to deal with any issue, Liu said China attaches great importance to the maritime security consultative mechanism and is willing to maintain communication with the U.S. side on relevant matters.
"We hope the U.S. side will earnestly respect the contents of the agreement and reach consensus with China on relevant issues as soon as possible to facilitate the smooth holding of the meetings," Liu said. ■
