The United States needs to respect China's core interests, including stopping selling weapons to Taiwan and ending military patrols close to islets controlled by China in the South China Sea, the country's foreign minister told his U.S. counterpart.
In a telephone call with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said the world is becoming a more challenging place, according to a Chinese Foreign Ministry statement released on Monday.
"As the U.S. seeks cooperation with China, it ought to respect China's core interests and important matters of concern," the statement paraphrased Wang as saying.