BEIJING - China's Commerce Ministry on Sunday defended the country's export control measures on rare earths and related items as a legitimate action, while urging the United States to properly manage differences through dialogues and on the basis of mutual respect and equal-footed consultation.

China, as a responsible major country, employs export controls on related items according to the law, in order to better defend world peace and regional stability, and to fulfill non-proliferation and other international obligations, a spokesperson for the ministry said in response to media inquiries.

"China's export controls are not export bans," said the spokesperson, adding that licenses will be granted for eligible applications.

Before the measures were announced, China had already notified relevant countries and regions through bilateral export control dialogue mechanisms, the spokesperson noted.

China stands ready to work with the rest of the world to step up export control dialogue and exchange, so as to better safeguard the security and stability of global industrial and supply chains, according to the spokesperson.

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In response to a question regarding the US announcement of imposing a tariff of 100 percent on China and export control on all critical software, the spokesperson said for a long time, the United States has been overstretching the concept of national security, abusing export control, taking discriminatory actions against China, and imposing unilateral long-arm jurisdiction measures on various products including semiconductor equipment and chips.

Particularly since the China-US economic and trade talks in Madrid in September, the United States, in just 20 days, has introduced a string of new restrictive measures targeting China, the spokesperson noted, stressing that the US actions have severely harmed China's interests and undermined the atmosphere of bilateral economic and trade talks, and China is resolutely opposed to them.

"Willful threats of high tariffs are not the right way to get along with China," the spokesperson emphasized. "China's position on the trade war is consistent: we do not want it, but we are not afraid of it."

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China urges the US to promptly correct its wrong practices, adhere to the important consensuses of the phone calls between the two heads of state, protect the hard-won outcomes of consultations, continue to use the China-US economic and trade consultation mechanism, and address respective concerns and properly manage differences through dialogues and on the basis of mutual respect and equal-footed consultation, so as to ensure the stable, sound and sustainable development of the China-US economic and trade relationship, the spokesperson said.

"If the United States insists on going the wrong way, China will surely take resolute measures to protect its legitimate rights and interests," the spokesperson added.