BEIJING, Sept. 24 -- China firmly opposes the US Defense Secretary Mark Esper’s false accusations and unfounded speculations about China and the Chinese military, said Senior Colonel Tan Kefei, spokesperson for China's Ministry of National Defense (MND), at a regular press conference in Beijing on September 24.
Esper has said that China and Russia are challenging the US-led “rules-based international order” established after the World War II, and that China may have been supplying artificial intelligence surveillance equipment to "authoritarian regimes."
In response, Tan said that China always safeguards the international system with the UN as the core and the international order based on international law. And China always conducts exchanges and cooperation with the rest of world in accordance with the basic norms of international relations.
Over the past 30 years, China has actively participated in the UN peacekeeping operations and has been the second largest contributor to both peacekeeping assessment and UN membership fees, and also the largest troop-contributing country among the permanent members of the UN Security Council.
In contrast, Tan stated, the US has insisted on pursuing unilateralism, protectionism and power politics. It has constantly evaded international responsibilities, successively withdrawn or announced its withdrawal from many international organizations and international treaties. And it still owes more than $2 billion in UN dues and peacekeeping assessments, becoming the violator of international rules and the destroyer of the international order.
The international community has a fair public opinion when comparing the two countries, Tan said.
China and the US both stand to gain from cooperation and lose from confrontation. “We hope that the US will face the reality, treat and handle the relations between the two countries and the two militaries correctly,” Tan pointed out.
To a crazy ship, all winds are contrary. It is hoped that the US will show goodwill and consistent words and deeds on cooperation issues, and work together with China to promote the stable development of relations between the two countries and the two militaries, Tan said.
