China is committed to peace and will never pursue expansionism but will not give up an \u201cinch\u201d of territory, President Xi Jinping told visiting US defence secretary James Mattis at a meeting in Beijing on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Mattis is in Beijing as tension between the two countries mount over a looming trade war and China\u2019s assertive claims on territorial rights in the dispute-ridden South China sea.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur stance is steadfast and clear-cut when it comes to China\u2019s sovereignty and territorial integrity,\u201d Xi was quoted as saying by the official news agency, Xinhua, adding that \u201cany inch of territory passed down from ancestors cannot be lost while we want nothing from others\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat is other people\u2019s, we do not want at all,\u201d Xi said.<\/p>\n
Beijing claims nearly the entire South China sea and is fighting counter claims by many of its maritime neighbours.<\/p>\n
In 2016, Beijing ignored a ruling by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, which shot down its claims over the South China sea.<\/p>\n
China is building a \u201cgreat modern socialist country, but China will stay on the path of peaceful development,\u201d Xi said, adding: \u201cChina will neither pursue the path of expansionism and colonialism, nor cause chaos to the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mattis told Xi that the US \u201c\u2026attaches great importance to relations between the two countries and the two militaries, and military ties play a vital role in the bilateral relations\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cGuided by consensus reached by heads of state of the two countries, the US is willing to strengthen strategic communication, expand mutually-beneficial cooperation, manage and control differences and risks, and prevent conflicts and confrontations, so as to enable military relations to be a constructive factor in promoting the development of bilateral ties,\u201d Mattis added.<\/p>\n
The two countries have been locked in a tit-for-tat battle of imposing import duties in recent month.<\/p>\n
Earlier in June, China announced that it will impose an additional 25% tariff on 659 US products worth over $50 billion, warning that it will \u201cfight back forcefully\u201d against Washington imposing duties on Chinese goods.<\/p>\n
Beijing\u2019s quick response came after Washington on Friday unveiled plans to impose additional 25% tariffs on Chinese goods worth around $ 50.<\/p>\n
China\u2019s defence ministry on Thursday praised Mattis\u2019s visit and said defence minister Wei Fenghe, China\u2019s defence minister, would go to Washington this year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
China is committed to peace and will never pursue expansionism but will not give up an \u201cinch\u201d of territory, President Xi Jinping told visiting US defence secretary James Mattis at a meeting in Beijing on Wednesday. Mattis is in Beijing as tension between the two countries mount over a looming trade war and China\u2019s assertive […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":35594,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[87],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-35593","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35593","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35593"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35593\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35595,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35593\/revisions\/35595"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35594"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35593"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35593"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35593"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}