China strongly deplores US defense bill

China strongly deplores the US National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2026, which was signed into law on Friday (Beijing time), Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said.

The act plays up the "China threat" narrative, interferes in China's internal affairs and harms China's sovereignty, security and development interests, he said at a regular news conference on Friday.

The US side should view China's development and China-US ties in an objective and reasonable manner, and work with China to implement the important common understandings their heads of state achieved at a meeting in Busan in October, Guo said.

He urged the US not to implement the negative China-related content in the act, and undo the negative influence. Otherwise, "China will take firm and forceful measures to uphold its sovereignty, security and development interests," he said.