On May 21, 2012, Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hong Lei held a press conference.

Q: Is Iranian President Ahmadinejad going to attend the 12th Meeting of the Council of Heads of Member States of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in China?

A: As a usual practice, China has invited President Ahmadinejad to attend the 12th SCO Summit as the leader of an observer state.

Q: It is reported that Russia recently stated its opposition to non-directly-involved country's intervention in the Huangyan Island dispute. How does China comment?

A: China's principled position on the Huangyan Island issue has been clear. The Island is China's inherent territory and China has indisputable sovereignty over it. The Philippines should earnestly respect China's territorial sovereignty. Meanwhile, China remains committed to the diplomatic resolution of the current situation. We hope the Philippines to meet China half way, seriously respond to China's concerns, come back to the right track of a diplomatic resolution of the issue and send a clear and consistent message to this end.

Q: The US House of Representatives recently adopted the National Defence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2013, which included content criticizing China's military development and requiring the US to sell F-16 C/D to Taiwan. How does China comment?

A: We have noticed that the China-related provisions in this Act play up China's military development and preach US arms sales to Taiwan. China is firmly against that. I want to stress that China is committed to the path of peaceful development. The hype of the "China threat" theory is totally baseless and irresponsible. The preach of arms sales to Taiwan even constitutes a grave violation of the one China policy and the three China-US joint communiques as well as a serious interference in China's internal affairs. We urge some people in the US parliament to renounce their Cold War mentality, stop pushing for arms sales to Taiwan and stop all erroneous moves interfering in China's internal affairs and do more things that will benefit China-US relations and bilateral mutual trust, instead of the contrary.