U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo cited "fundamental disagreement" with China's foreign minister during a testy exchange in Beijing that highlighted rising tensions between the world's two largest economies.
Pompeo's retort came after Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi accused the U.S. on Monday of escalating trade disputes, interfering on Taiwan and meddling in the country's domestic affairs. "These actions have damaged our mutual trust, cast a shadow over China-U.S. relations, and are completely out of line with the interests of our two peoples," Wang told his visiting American counterpart.
"The issues that you characterized, we have a fundamental disagreement," Pompeo said. "We have great concerns about actions that China has taken and I look forward to having the opportunity to discuss each of those today because this is an incredibly important relationship."