Chinese president criticizes 'negative factors' in relation to US

BEIJING (Xinhua) - Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday criticized US President Donald Trump of the "negative" factors that have hampered relations between the two countries after several Washington initiatives, the latest in the China Sea Southern.

Xi and Trump talked by telephone a few hours after the last incident, in which an American warship passed through the vicinity of a Beijing-controlled island in the South China Sea.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry denounced a "serious political and military provocation".

The "USS Stethem" destroyer passed less than 12 nautical miles (22 km) from Triton Island, which is part of the Paracel Islands archipelago, a territory also claimed by Taiwan and Vietnam. The island has been run by China for several decades.

Beijing responded by sending three military vessels and two fighter jets as a warning to the American ship, with a requirement that it leave the region, Wu Qian, a spokesman for the Chinese Defense Ministry, said in a statement.

He criticized an "illegal action" that "will seriously affect mutual strategic trust".

This is the second operation of the type held in the South China Sea since the coming to power of Donald Trump.

In the region, China maintains disputes over the sovereignty of islands and reefs with other countries, notably Vietnam and the Philippines.

- Negative factors -

"The Chinese side is strongly urging the American side to immediately end this kind of provocation that violates China's sovereignty and threatens its security," Chinese diplomacy spokesman Lu Kang insisted.

The US maneuver, shortly before the expected talks between the two presidents, seems to confirm the tension in relations between countries, ending a close-run since April when heads of state met in Mar-a- Lake, Florida.

Washington last week authorized a $ 1.3 billion arms sale to Taiwan, an independent island in fact, but which has the sovereignty claimed by the communist regime.

The US government also last week announced sanctions against a Chinese bank accused of laundering North Korean money.

In addition, Washington is concerned about respect for freedoms in Hong Kong, 20 years after the return of the former British colony to China. Last week, the US government included the Asian giant on the blacklist of human trafficking.

In his talk on Monday with Donald Trump, Xi Jinping lamented that bilateral relations were affected by "negative factors," according to a statement from Chinese diplomacy. He also asked the American colleague for "correct treatment of Taiwanese issues, in accordance with the principle of a single China."

- Xi-Trump on the G20 -

The Chinese president stressed the "important results" achieved in bilateral relations since the meeting in April and confirmed that a meeting with Trump is planned in the margins of the G20 summit, to be held this week in Hamburg, Germany.

A few hours after the American maneuver in the South China Sea, Trump also spoke by telephone with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

"President Trump mentioned the growing threat posed by North Korea's nuclear and ballistic program," he said in a conversation with Xi, the White House said.

The US president, who harshly criticized China in the election campaign, also "reiterated its determination to achieve more balanced trade relations with US trading partners," according to the government.

A spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Geng Shuang, said the two countries are "willing to promote their relations."