Chinese military spokesperson urges U.S. to respect China's interests

BEIJING, Aug. 26 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese military spokesperson Thursday urged the United States to respect China's core interests and major concerns, correct its own erroneous words and deeds, and do more to improve the relations between the two countries and two militaries.

Tan Kefei, a spokesperson for the Ministry of National Defense, said at a press conference that for some time, some U.S. military officers made irresponsible and erroneous remarks on issues about China.

"We firmly oppose such remarks," he said.

The root cause of the difficulties in the bilateral relations is the U.S. side's obsession with hegemony, a Cold War mentality, and a zero-sum game, Tan said. Tan added that the United States sees China as a strategic rival and a security threat and has been doing everything possible to contain and oppress China, severely undermining China's sovereignty, security, and development interests.

Reiterating China's commitment to peaceful development, Tan accused the United States of being the major factor driving the tensions in the South China Sea.

"The Chinese military will resolutely safeguard China's sovereignty, security, and development interests, and firmly uphold regional and global peace and stability," he said.