BEIJING: The US has “no right” to interfere in Chinese cooperation with Germany, China’s foreign ministry said Thursday, after Washington cautioned against Beijing getting a controlling stake in Hamburg’s port terminal.

US interference is symptomatic of its practice of coercive diplomacy, foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told reporters at a daily briefing in Beijing.

“Pragmatic cooperation between China and Germany is a matter for the two sovereign countries, the United States should not attack it without reason and has no right to meddle and interfere,” Zhao said Thursday, a day before German Chancellor Olaf Scholz was due in Beijing for a one day visit where he is expected to meet President Xi Jinping.