"Ganging up and pressuring China is totally meaningless," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said Thursday, pointing to the slew of negative remarks about Beijing coming from top U.S. officials during their recent visit to Japan and South Korea.

"The timing of those negative remarks is thought-provoking," Zhao said in a regular press briefing, as the highly anticipated in-person meeting between top diplomats of the world's top two economies is soon to take place on Thursday. He also lashed out at Washington's "microphone diplomacy."

In a bid to shore up America's Asian alliances, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, alongside Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, made his first overseas trip to the two nations, where he criticized Beijing.

The Chinese delegation arrived in Anchorage, Alaska, early Thursday morning, local time. The meet-up is expected to last two days. 

"Beijing's agreement to this U.S.-proposed meeting shows our sincere attitude of hoping to improve the bilateral exchanges and develop the China-U.S. relationship," said Zhao, urging Washington to work toward Beijing and show their "sincerity."

Zhao also doubled down on Beijing's position on sovereignty and issues concerning the country's core interests. "We will never give up on those," Zhao said.

(Cover: File photo of Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian.)