China expressed strong dissatisfaction and opposition on Wednesday to a U.S. defense spending bill which includes propositions aimed at China, and urged the U.S. not to disrupt the stable development of bilateral ties.
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang made the remarks at a routine news briefing when asked for comments about a draft bill of the U.S. National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2019.
According to reports, the U.S. Congress has reached a compromise on the aforementioned draft bill that includes several propositions aimed at China, like strengthening defense ties with Taiwan and studying China's "coercive activities" in the South China Sea.
Geng said that China is strongly dissatisfied and firmly opposes those China-related provisions, and has lodged solemn representations with the U.S. side several times.
If the relevant content is put into law, it will severely damage the mutual trust between China and the United States, and jeopardize exchanges and cooperation in relevant fields, as well as the peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, Geng said.
"We urge the U.S. side to discard the outdated cold-war and zero-sum mentality, immediately delete the relevant negative content and uphold rather than disrupt the steady development of the relations between the two countries," Geng said.
