The United States imposed sanctions on Chinese officials for "violations" of the Uighur minority, and also called on Beijing to respect its human rights obligations. On the other hand, China called on Washington to adopt a more rational policy towards it.
It also announced today, Thursday, that it will prohibit three senior Chinese officials and members of their families to obtain visas to enter the country due to "horrific and systematic violations" against Uighurs and other Muslims belonging to Turkish people.
Among her foreign officials, Mike Pompeo, will be among the officials who will be denied entry, Chen Quangyu, secretary of the Communist Party of Xinjiang, who is the architect of Beijing's tough policies toward minorities, according to her.
The US secretary urged China to respect its international human rights obligations and pledges.
On the other hand, the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said that his country advises the US Secretary of State to stop spreading what he described as political viruses, in response to Pompeo's statement that the Chinese authorities were not sincere about the outbreak of the Corona virus emerging and that Washington was trying to reveal the truth to the world because of Beijing's failure.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang E had said that his country and the United States needed "more positive messages and exploration of peaceful coexistence."
In a speech to a forum on Sino-US relations, the Chinese minister called on Washington to "formulate a more rational policy" in dealing with his country, and described the relations between the two sides as facing the most serious challenges since the establishment of diplomatic relations between them in 1979.
Nuclear consultations
In a related context, the United States invited China to join the talks to control the spread of nuclear weapons that started in late June with Russia, noting that it had sensed an openness by Beijing to participate in the tripartite negotiations despite the differences.
The administration of President Donald Trump has repeatedly called on China - whose influence is increasing - to join talks aimed at reaching an alternative agreement to the new "New Start" Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty that sets the ceiling for the nuclear warheads of the United States and Russia, the two superpowers of the Cold War era.
China did not join the initial talks between Washington and Moscow in Vienna last month on the "New Start" treaty, which expires in February.
But Beijing said on Wednesday it was ready to participate in nuclear arms control negotiations with the United States, provided the latter reduced its arsenal to the size of China's much smaller arsenal.
Fu Kong, director general of the Chinese Foreign Ministry's arms control division, said on Wednesday that the American calls to engage his country in negotiations "is nothing but a ploy" that Washington uses to find a pretext to withdraw from "New Start" and increase the size of its nuclear arsenal.
However, the United States has read these statements positively, and said its negotiator, Marshall Billingsley, will invite China to follow up talks.