Beijing lodged serious protests on Friday to Washington over the United States' Secretary of State Marco Rubio's unwarranted remarks concerning China, vowing that it will firmly safeguard its sovereignty, security and development interests.

Rubio, during his just concluded six-day visit to Panama, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Guatemala, and the Dominican Republic, made several comments on China's cooperation with Latin America and the Caribbean, the Panama Canal, the Belt and Road Initiative, 5G and cybersecurity, and the one-China principle. He also claimed to "counter the influence of the Chinese Communist Party in the hemisphere".

"The groundless comments from the US steeped in Cold?War mentality and ideological bias?are unfounded accusations against China aimed at sowing discord between China and relevant LAC countries," a Foreign Ministry spokesperson said in a statement.

Such moves interfered in China's internal affairs?and undermined China's legitimate and lawful rights and interests, the statement said.

China is committed to growing friendship and cooperative ties with LAC countries under the principle of mutual respect, equality, mutual benefit, openness, inclusiveness and win-win cooperation, it said.

The spokesperson emphasized that between China and LAC countries, there is no zero-sum or the-winner-takes-all geopolitical calculations, only sincere mutual support and cooperation for shared progress.

The cooperation, which meets the needs of LAC countries, is mutually beneficial and has delivered tangibly to relevant countries and made lives better for the local population, the spokesperson said.

"We never attach any strings to the practical cooperation between China and LAC countries, or target any third party," the spokesperson said.

"The US points fingers at normal cooperation between LAC countries and a third country, showing no respect for LAC countries," the spokesperson said, adding that the overwhelming trend of China and LAC countries working together for stronger cooperation is irreversible.

Regarding the Panama Canal, the spokesperson reiterated that China supports Panama's sovereignty over the Panama Canal and is committed to upholding the Canal's status as a permanently neutral international waterway.

"China has never participated in managing or operating the Canal, and never ever has China interfered. The accusation that China has control over the Canal is totally groundless," the statement said.

"The world is not blind to the truth that who is keeping the Canal neutral and thriving and who keeps threatening to 'take back' the Canal."

Describing the Belt and Road Initiative as an initiative for economic cooperation, the spokesperson said China firmly opposes the US smear and sabotage of the initiative, which once again exposes its hegemonism.

According to the statement, since the initiative?was proposed in 2013, the?cooperation areas and scope have kept expanding and the outcomes have continued to benefit people of different countries, the statement said.

"The BRI has now become one of the most?popular international public goods and the largest-scale international cooperation platform," the spokesperson said, adding that the Belt and Road cooperation has delivered tangibly for people in more than 150 countries and boosted the common development of developing countries.

When it comes to the cybersecurity issues, the spokesperson said China has been all along committed to safeguarding cybersecurity and carrying out cooperation in relevant areas based on the principle of win-win cooperation.

According to the spokesperson, Chinese companies have been widely popular for their advanced 5G technologies and secure and efficient services.

"Smearing Chinese companies and suppressing Chinese technologies will neither hold back China's development and progress nor stop its cooperation with other countries, but only cut oneself off opportunities," the spokesperson said.

On the Taiwan question, the statement reaffirmed that there is but one China in the world. Taiwan is an inalienable part of China's territory and the government of the People's Republic of China is the sole legal government representing the whole of China.

One hundred and eighty-three countries in the world have established diplomatic ties with China, which the spokesperson said fully shows that supporting the one-China principle is the right thing to do and where the public opinion trends and the arc of history bends.

"The Taiwan question is purely China's internal affair, which brooks no foreign interference," the spokesperson said.

The spokesperson cautioned that the US interruption of the normal exchanges and cooperation between China and LAC countries will win no support and is doomed to fail.