"We stick to our principals, which is totally different from being tough," Yang said at a press conference on the sidelines of the annual session of the National People's Congress (NPC), the country's top legislature. (来源：专业英语学习网站 http://www.EnglishCN.com)

It has always been the mission for China's diplomacy to defend China's sovereignty, security and development interests, and to promote world peace and development, he said.

"It is unfair to label actions safeguarding one's own core interests and dignity as tough and take it for granted infringing interests of a foreign country," said Yang.

Chinese FM expects G20 to play "practical role" in world economic governance

Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said Sunday that China will work with other parities to enable G20 summit to play an "even bigger and more practical role" in promoting world economic governance.

Yang made the remarks at a press conference held on the sidelines of the annual session of the National People's Congress (NPC), the country's top legislature.

China calls for more diplomatic efforts to solve Iranian nuclear issue

Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi on Sunday called for more diplomatic efforts to solve the Iranian nuclear issue.

Yang made the remarks at a press conference on the sidelines of the annual session of China's National People's Congress, or the parliament.

He urged all concerned parties to stick to diplomatic negotiations and use their political wisdom to seek a comprehensive, reasonable and fair solution.

Resumption of six-party talks hopeful, Chinese FM

Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said Sunday there is a great hope for restoring the stalled six-party talks on the Korean Peninsula issue as long as all parties involved keep in contact and maintain patience.

Yang made the remarks at a press conference on the sidelines of the annual session of the National People's Congress, or the parliament.

China firmly opposed to US moves that undermine ties

Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said Sunday China is firmly opposed to the recent moves of the United States that undermined China's core interests and the overall interests of bilateral ties.

Yang made the remarks at a press conference on the sidelines of the annual session of the National People's Congress (NPC), the country's top legislature.

He said that the China-U.S relationship had a good start after President Obama took office last year. However, the U.S arms sales to Taiwan and U.S leaders' meeting with the Dalai Lama "caused a serious disturbance to the China-U.S ties and posed difficulty to the cooperation between the two countries," he said.

"Such a situation is not in the interest of either side, and the responsibility for the difficulty in Sino-US relations does not lie with China," he said.

He said China's position had been announced a few days ago, when US Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg and National Security Council Senior Director for Asian Affairs Jeffrey Bader visited China.

"The Chinese side further stated in full its principled position on China-US relations and on major issues, including Taiwan and Tibet related issues," Yang said.

"We pointed out that the relevant moves taken by the United States side had seriously violated the principles set out in the three China-US joint communiques and the China-US joint statement," he said.

"The moves undermined China's core interests and the overall interests of China-US relations, and China is firmly opposed to these moves," he said.

China highly values relationship with EU

China has highly valued the relationship with the European Union (EU), Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said Sunday.

The EU has always been a very important part on the international stage and will play an "increasingly important role, " Yang made the remarks on the sidelines of the annual parliament session.