Beijing places the responsibility for worsening of relations between China and the United States on Washington and hopes that the U.S. administration will respect China's interests, a Chinese diplomat said on Tuesday.

"China has repeatedly stated that all the responsibility for existing problems in bilateral relations lies on the United States," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said on the eve of the visit of senior U.S. diplomats to China.

James Steinberg, U.S. deputy secretary of state, and Jeffrey Bader, senior director for Asian affairs at the U.S. National Security Council, are scheduled to arrive in Beijing on Tuesday in an apparent attempt to "mend bilateral ties".

Relations between the two states have been marred by a recent U.S. decision to sell $6.4 billion worth of weapons to de facto independent Taiwan, which China considers part of its territory. China has threatened to suspend military ties with the U.S. and impose sanctions against the arms exporters.

In addition, China has accused the United States of violating international norms and spoiling bilateral relations after Obama received the Dalai Lama at the White House on February 18.

Beijing has also reacted angrily to Google's announcement in January that its e-mail accounts were hacked from China. Google said it would seek talks about offering a legal, uncensored search engine in China, which is known to block many popular foreign websites.

However, Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao said last week that China did not want 2010 to be "an unpeaceful year" for relations with the United States.

BEIJING, March 2 (RIA Novosti)