Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Monday called for efforts to "put China-U.S. relations back on the right path of healthy and stable development." 

"We must replace the 'competitive-collaborative-adversarial' trichotomy with the three principles of mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation, return the China policy of the U.S. to the right track guided by reason and pragmatism, and put China-U.S. relations on the right path of healthy and stable development," Wang said at a press conference on the sidelines of the fifth session of the 13th National People's Congress, China's top legislature. 

He criticized the United States for "going to great lengths to engage in intense, zero-sum competition with China" and "provoking China on issues concerning China's core interests." Washington is also piecing together small blocs to suppress China, he added. 

"This is not how a responsible power should act, or how a credible country does things," he said, adding that China has every right to defend its legitimate interests. 

"In a globalized and interdependent world, how China and the U.S. can find the right way forward and manage to get along is both a new question for humanity and a formulation that must be worked out by China and the U.S. together," he said. 

U.S. President Joe Biden and other senior U.S. officials said that the United States does not seek a "new Cold War," does not seek to change China's system, does not support "Taiwan independence," and has no intention to have a conflict with China, Wang noted, urging Washington to put its verbal assurances into practice. 

Commenting on the "Summit for Democracy" convened by the U.S. in December, the Chinese diplomat slammed Washington for drawing an "ideological line" between countries and creating division in the world. 

"The act violated the spirit of democracy," he said. 

Underscoring the diversity of human civilization and democracy in different countries, he said it is undemocratic to set a standard for democracy after the U.S. system. 

He also criticized the interference in other countries' internal affairs in the name of democracy. 

"China practices whole-process people's democracy," he said. "It is broad-based, genuine and effective democracy which enjoys the wholehearted endorsement and support of the Chinese people."