CHINA REFUTES BEING 'TOUGH' TOWARDS SOME DIPLOMATIC ISSUES

By Vincent Low

BEIJING, March 8 (Bernama) -- Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi has
refuted allegations that China recently took a 'tough stance' towards some
diplomatic issues.

"It is unfair to label actions safeguarding one's own core interests and
dignity as 'tough' and take it for granted infringing interests of a foreign
country," Yang told a press conference Sunday on the sidelines of the annual
session of the National People's Congress (NPC), the country's top
legislature.

China reacted 'tough' on several diplomatic issues which included the US
arms
sale to Taiwan and US leaders' meeting with Dalai Lama, as well as the East
China Sea issue with Japan.

"We stick to our principles, which is totally different from being tough,"
said
Yang, adding that China was not responsible for the current hiccup in Sino-US
relations.

He said, recent moves by the US had undermined China's core interests and
the
overall interests of the bilateral ties.

"The United States should properly handle the relevant sensitive issues and
work with the Chinese side to return the China-US relationship to the track of
stable development," he added.

On the East China Sea issue, Yang said, China had always held that its
differences with Japan should be resolved through consultation and negotiation
to safeguard the China-Japan strategic and mutually beneficial relations, and
ensure the fundamental interests of both countries.

Yang said, China and Japan had reached a principled consensus on the issue,
adding that both sides should honour the spirit of the principled consensus and
create conditions for its implementation to make the East China Sea a "sea of
peace, friendship and cooperation."

Under a China-Japan principled consensus on the East China Sea issue reached
in June 2008, the two sides will, through joint exploration, select by mutual
agreement areas for joint development in the block mentioned by the consensus
under the principle of mutual benefit.

The minister also called on some foreign countries to stop having
stereotyped perception about China, particularly psychological bias against
China.

Yang hoped the world would view China objectively, as it was still a
developing country with a big population and weak economic foundation and uneven
development, although it achieved well in social and economic development.

-- BERNAMA