(Reuters) – Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said on Sunday that relations with the United States had been “seriously disrupted,” after a rise in friction between the two big powers.

“The responsibility does not lie with China,” said Yang, speaking at a news conference on the sidelines of the annual session of China’s parliament.

Beijing and Washington have recently gone through a rough patch, with quarrels in January and February over Chinese Internet censorship, trade disputes, U.S. arms sales to Taiwan, and President Barack Obama’s meeting with the Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan leader.

The United States “must respect China’s core interests” on Taiwan and Tibet, Yang added. “I believe the United States understands very well China’s core interests and major concerns.

“China has always attached importance to its relationship with the United States,” he said. “Resolutely adhering to one’s principled stance is not the same thing as being hardline.”

But the two big trade partners appear to want to lower the temperature of the disputes as they also grapple with how to deal with how to deal with Iran and North Korea.

Beijing has not yet acted on its threat to sanction U.S. companies involved in the arms sales to Taiwan, the self-ruled island that Beijing claims as part of its territory.

Last weekend, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said he wanted trade friction with the United States to ease.

Comment by Evans Liberal Politics owner Paul Evans: Ever since Newsweek came out with the magazine cover article announcing the 21st century as belonging to China, I’m sure the U.S. has been keeping a wary eye on their erstwhile rival. Let’s hope we can make the 21st century a partnership, as it should be with a nation so rich in population, culture and economic strength. Perhaps we had better take their wishes a little more into consideration, logically.

Visit Reuters, for the latest and best in breaking news.

See Obama to nominate retired Army general for TSA: source, Reuters, March 7, 2010, by Reporting by Chris Buckley; (Writing by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Bill Tarrant):

(Reuters) – President Barack Obama plans to nominate retired Army Major Gen. Robert Harding to head the Transportation Security Administration after his first pick withdrew under political pressure, an administration official said Sunday.

…Before retiring from the military, Harding was deputy to the Army’s chief of intelligence and previously served as director for operations in the Defense Intelligence Agency.

See Iran’s Ahmadinejad calls Sept 11 “big fabrication”, Reuters, March 6, 2010, by Ramin Mostafavi and Hashem Kalantari; (writing by Fredrik Dahl; editing by Noah Barkin): so is I’maNutJob this insane, or is he this evil — and isn’t this sort of evil really simply various forms of insanity: aren’t they the same thing??? I don’t mean that all insanity is evil; many poor struggling sufferers have no real fault of their own. I mean that all evil, real evil, is insane. Or at least, sure doesn’t “get it”.