The U.S. perception and views toward China are seriously distorted, Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang said on Tuesday.

Noting the United States regards China as its primary rival and the biggest geopolitical challenge, Qin said the result is that the U.S.' China policy has entirely deviated from a rational and sound track.

He made the remarks in response to questions about China-U.S. relations at a press conference on the sidelines of the first session of the 14th National People's Congress in Beijing.

Commenting on a recent incident involving an unmanned Chinese airship, Qin said the United States was in contravention of international law and customary international practice and created a diplomatic crisis that could have been avoided.

"The U.S. talks a lot about following rules. But imagine two athletes competing in an Olympic race," he said.

"If one athlete, instead of focusing on giving one's best, always tries to trip or even injure the other, that is not fair competition but malicious confrontation and a foul!" continued Qin.

The so-called "establishing guardrails" and "not seeking conflict" simply means that China should not respond in words or action when slandered or attacked, he noted. "That is just impossible!"

"If the U.S. does not hit the brake but continues to speed down the wrong path, no amount of guardrails can prevent derailing, and there will surely be conflict and confrontation," Qin warned.

"Who will bear the catastrophic consequences?" he asked. "Such competition is a reckless gamble with the stakes being the fundamental interests of the two peoples and even the future of humanity. Naturally China is firmly opposed to all this."

Qin said, if the U.S. has the ambition to make itself great again, it should also have a broad mind for the development of other countries.

"Containment and suppression will not make America great, and it will not stop the rejuvenation of China," said the Chinese foreign minister.

The China-U.S. relationship should be determined by the common interests and shared responsibilities of the two countries and by the friendship between the Chinese and American peoples, rather than by U.S. domestic politics or hysterical neo-McCarthyism, said Qin.

"We hope the U.S. government will listen to the calls of the two peoples, get rid of its strategic anxiety of 'threat inflation,' abandon the 'zero-sum' Cold War mentality, and refuse to be hijacked by 'political correctness,'" he said.

The Chinese foreign minister called on the U.S. to honor its commitments and work with China to explore the right way to get along with each other for the benefit of both countries and the entire world.