ANKARA

China accused the US envoy to Beijing on Wednesday of "not reflecting facts" on ties between the two countries.

"It is the US, not China, that has disrupted and prevented cultural and people-to-people exchanges between the two countries. The US has used national security as a false pretext to harass, interrogate and deport Chinese students arriving in the US,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said at a news conference in Beijing.

"Such moves inflicted enormous damage on the persons concerned. They’ve created a chilling effect," she said.

She was responding to a question about Nicholas Burns's interview with the Wall Street Journal, in which he accused China of working to prevent normal interactions between Chinese and American citizens.

"Ambassador Burns’s remarks do not reflect the facts. Those words stray from the important common understandings reached by the two presidents in San Francisco and the right way for the two countries to get along with each other. They are not conducive to the sound and steady growth of China-US relations," said Mao.

China, she added, is guided by the "principles of mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation, and we are committed to promoting people-to-people and cultural exchanges between the two countries."

"The image of the US in the eyes of the Chinese people is ultimately determined by the US itself. The US should work with China, promote China-US people-to-people and cultural exchanges through credible actions and advance the sound and steady growth of bilateral relations," she added.