Wei Fenghe, the Chinese defense minister, told his American counterpart on Tuesday that Taiwan is important to China’s interests and that it is a “red-line” that cannot be crossed.

Wei said during a meeting with U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on the sidelines of a gathering of Southeast Asian defense chiefs in Cambodia that “the settlement of Taiwan is a problem for the Chinese people, and no external force has the right to meddle.”

Wei said the United States must respect China’s core interests and hoped it could adopt a rational, practical policy towards China, and get China-U.S. relations back on track.

Beijing has steadfastly viewed Taiwan as an inalienable part of China.

Earlier, Chinese state media quoted defence ministry spokesman Tan Kefei as saying the main reason for the current state of relations between China and the United States was that the United States made the wrong strategic judgment.

Tan said China was not responsible for the state of relations.