Chinese President Xi Jinping told US counterpart Donald Trump on Monday that Sino-US relations have been hit by “negative factors” in a phone call following days of US actions that have vexed Beijing.

Trump held separate calls with Xi and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe that focused on tensions on the Korean peninsula, but China’s foreign ministry said Xi also invoked the thorny issue of Taiwan.

Trump infuriated Beijing last week when he approved a $1.3 billion arms sales to Taiwan, a self-governed island that Beijing considers a breakaway province awaiting reunification.

The US administration also imposed sanctions on a Chinese bank accused of laundering North Korean cash, voiced concern about freedom in semi-autonomous Hong Kong and placed the country on a list of the world’s worst human trafficking offenders.

The latest irritant came on Sunday when the USS Stethem destroyer sailed less than 12 nautical miles from tiny Triton Island in the Paracel Islands archipelago, which is claimed by China as well as Taiwan and Vietnam, a US official told AFP.

The series of moves have marked a sharp reversal from the friendly tone struck by Trump since his meeting with Xi at the US president’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida in April.

In their phone call, Xi acknowledged that Sino-US relations “have achieved important results” since that meeting, the foreign ministry said.

But Xi also warned that relations “have been affected by some negative factors”.

Xi said he hoped the US president will “properly handle” Taiwan issues in accordance with the “One China” principle.

The Chinese leader insisted that the two sides should follow the “consensus” reached at Mar-a-Lago and adhere to the principle of mutual respect.

Source: AFP