China urges ROK to stop fabricating, hyping false narratives about China: spokesperson

BEIJING, Feb. 28 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson on Friday urged relevant personnel in the Republic of Korea (ROK) to stop fabricating and hyping false narratives about China, to avoid interfering with and affecting bilateral relations.

Spokesperson Lin Jian made the comments at a regular news briefing in response to recent disparaging remarks against China made by the ROK leader.

Lin said that China always upholds the principle of non-interference in other countries' internal affairs, and believes that the ROK people have the wisdom and ability to properly handle domestic issues.

"China is strongly dissatisfied with and firmly opposed to the continued malicious association and hyping up of China-related issues by individual forces and people on the ROK side out of political self-interest," Lin said.

"Throwing dirty water on your neighbors can't solve your own problems," Lin added.

Noting that the ROK Foreign Ministry and the ROK-China Parliamentarians' Union have both publicly stated that they attach importance to developing China-ROK relations, the spokesperson said that some ROK media and people with insight have expressed concern over the political manipulation by certain ROK forces that has worsened the public opinion of the two countries.

"The sound and steady development of China-ROK relations serves the common interests of the two countries," he noted.

"We once again urge relevant people on the ROK side to stop fabricating and hyping up false narratives about China, smearing and attacking China, and making political use of China-related issues, to avoid interfering with and affecting bilateral relations," Lin said.