China on Wednesday urged the United States to stop its “unprovoked attacks” and abandon its “Cold War mentality” against Beijing, Reuters reported. China also accused US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo of fabricating lies and “maliciously” causing a political confrontation.

The Chinese embassy urged the Donald Trump administration to treat relations with it in a constructive manner. “We once again urge the US to abandon its Cold War mentality and ideological prejudice, stop unprovoked accusations and attacks against China,” the embassy said.

This came a day after Pompeo met the foreign ministers of Japan, India and Australia and said that Beijing’s actions in the Indo-Pacific region make it critical for the four countries to cooperate to protect their partners and their people from Chinese “exploitation, corruption and coercion”, according to AP. The four countries are part of an alliance called Quad or Quadrilateral coalition.

Pompeo accused China of covering up the coronavirus pandemic and worsening it, while also threatening democracy and diversity in the region with its assertive actions. He cited examples of China’s actions in the East and South China Seas, the Mekong, the Himalayas and the Taiwan Strait.

China and the US are at loggerheads over various matters, including the coronavirus pandemic, Hong Kong, Taiwan, trade, and human rights. India, a member of the Quad, is also in a row with China after 20 Indians and an unknown number of Chinese soldiers were killed in violent clashes in Galwan Valley in June.

Tokyo too has expressed concerns over China’s claim to the Japanese-controlled Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea. Japan’s annual defense policy paper published in July alleged that China unilaterally changed the status quo in the South China Sea, where it has militarised man made islands and was slowly trying to virtually claim all of the sea’s important fisheries and waterways. Relations between China and Australia have also deteriorated too.

China has denied all allegations levelled against it. On the coronavirus pandemic, the country said that it acted quickly to give information about the infection to the World Health Organization and all other countries. It has also alleged that the US is the biggest aggressor in the South China Sea. China also refuted claims of human rights violations against minority Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang district and in its handling of Hong Kong. Beijing, meanwhile, has accused Western nations of meddling in its internal affairs.