China’s foreign minister has once again laid the blame for a lull in Chinese-US relations on the Obama administration, and called for the US president to repair ties, the New York Times reported. Yang Jiechi said that arms sales to Taiwan and the visit of the Dalai Lama to the White House last month had seriously disrupted relations between China and the US. He said that China’s suspension of military exchanges with Washington were in response to the Taiwan arms deal, and hinted once again that China would not be willing to support the US in the event of sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program. “We don’t think diplomatic efforts have been exhausted,” Yang said. The foreign minister also denied that China was trying to strong arm the US over the Taiwan and Dalai Lama dispute, arguing that the government only wanted to protect its interests. “We stick to our principles, which is totally different from being tough,” state-media quoted him as saying.
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