China defence minister rejects US' 'smears, threats', says 'no one should bully others under guise of multilateralism'
In a direct riposte to his United States counterpart, China's Defence Minister Wei Fenghe said the US "must stop smearing and containing China, stop interfering in China's internal affairs, and stop harming China's interests".
"The bilateral relationship cannot improve unless the US side can do that,” he stressed on Sunday (June 12).
US-China relations was among several hot button issues touched on by General Wei in the opening plenary session on the last day of the Shangri-La Dialogue.
“Yesterday, (US Secretary of Defence Lloyd) Austin addressed the first plenary session. I disagree with some points he made and firmly reject the US smearing, accusation, even threats against China,” said Gen Wei almost right at the start of his address on China’s vision for regional order.
“STRATEGIC MISTAKE” TO VIEW CHINA AS THREAT
He said confrontation will benefit neither parties nor the rest of the world. But he added that insisting to view China as a threat or adversary would be “a historic and strategic mistake” on the US’ part.
