China tells US to stop criticism, says relations suffering

BEIJING (AP) — China's foreign minister has told visiting U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that the United States should stop what he called groundless attacks on his country's policies.

Wang Yi said he told Pompeo during a meeting Monday that a shadow has been cast "over the future of China-U.S. relations." China and the United States are at odds over trade and Beijing's militarization of islands it claims in the South China Sea.

Pompeo, who arrived from North Korea, told Yi he wanted to fill him on his meetings with its leader, Kim Jong Un, and efforts to achieve the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

He earlier said "significant progress" was made during his visit toward an agreement for North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons.