The Chinese Foreign Ministry on Monday said the recent airship incident is a test to the U.S.' sincerity in stabilizing and improving China-U.S. relations, and to how it handles a crisis.

The entry of the Chinese airship into U.S. airspace was totally unexpected and accidental, Mao Ning, a spokesperson for the ministry, told a regular press briefing in Beijing on Monday.

The U.S. side should meet the Chinese side half way and properly manage differences to prevent misunderstandings and miscalculations and avoid undermining the trust between the two countries, Mao said.

When it comes to China-U.S. relations, she said, the Chinese side always views and develops them in accordance with the three principles of mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation proposed by President Xi Jinping, and at the same time resolutely defends its own sovereignty, security and development interests.

Following the airship incident, the Chinese side has asked the U.S. side to properly handle the matter in a calm, professional and restrained manner, and criticized the U.S.' use of force to shoot down the airship as an overreaction.

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(Cover: File of Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning. /Chinese Foreign Ministry)