BEIJING, March 3 (Xinhua) -- China strongly deplores and firmly opposes the recent remarks made by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, which were steeped in the Cold-War mentality and full of lies and false accusations, and has lodged serious protests with the U.S. side, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said on Monday.

Spokesperson Lin Jian made the remarks at a daily press briefing in response to a query about the remarks made by Rubio, who blamed China on issues of Taiwan, economy and trade, COVID-19 and Indo-Pacific affairs during a recent interview with a U.S. media outlet.

There is but one China in the world, Taiwan is an inalienable part of China, and the government of the People's Republic of China is the sole legal government representing the whole of China -- this is the real status quo in the Taiwan Strait, Lin said.

Noting that the Taiwan question is the most crucial, sensitive and explosive question in China-U.S. relations, Lin said that if the United States does not hope to trigger confrontation, it must stop crossing or trampling on the red line of the Taiwan question.

Lin said that trade and tariff wars have no winner. The U.S.'s attempts to politicize and weaponize trade and economic issues, levy tariff hikes on Chinese imports under the pretext of fentanyl, and create blocks to its normal trade, investment and economic cooperation with China will only harm its own economic interests and international credibility.

Lin added that China stands ready to work with the United States to address each other's concerns through dialogue and consultation on the basis of equality and mutual respect, and will take all measures necessary to safeguard its legitimate rights and interests.

Lin noted that origins-tracing of COVID-19 is a serious science issue, and that it is "extremely unlikely" that the pandemic was caused by a lab leak, which was the authoritative conclusion reached by the experts of the WHO-China joint mission following their field trips to the lab in Wuhan and in-depth communication with researchers. The United States needs to immediately stop slinging mud on and scapegoating China.

Lin said that the Asia-Pacific is a pace-setter in cooperation and development, not a chess board for geopolitical rivalry. The United States should not project its own hegemonic mentality onto China.

"Attempts to stoke bloc confrontation in the Asia-Pacific run counter to the trend of the times and go against the common aspiration of regional countries," Lin said, adding that these moves will win no support and be doomed to failure.

Lin said that a lie told a thousand times cannot be a fact, that the world will not be fooled by such baseless vilification against China, and that megaphone diplomacy does no good for China-U.S. relations.

China will be committed to viewing and developing relations with the United States on the basis of the principles of mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation, and will also firmly defend its national sovereignty, security and development interests, Lin said. Enditem

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