"The Chinese side firmly opposes the serious wrong remarks made by some people in the US about the Chinese leadership and has lodged stern representations with the US side," Chinese embassy spokesman Liu Pengyu told Newsweek on April 19, when asked to comment on recent remarks by US House Speaker Mike Johnson.

"We urge the US to abandon its ideological bias and Cold War mentality, stop smearing Chinese leaders, stop irresponsible political manipulation, and take concrete actions to restore the momentum of stability in China-US relations, not the other way around," Liu added.

US House Speaker Johnson said on April 17 that he believes the leaders of China, Russia and Iran are an "axis of evil" when speaking to reporters about aid to Ukraine.

“I think they are coordinated. President Vladimir Putin will march across Europe if not stopped,” possibly even confronting NATO members like Poland, Mr Johnson said.

The term "axis of evil" was first used by US President George W. Bush to refer to Iran, Iraq and North Korea in his January 2002 State of the Union address, nearly a year before launching the invasion of Iraq. Bush used the term to describe foreign governments accused of sponsoring terrorism and promoting weapons of mass destruction.

John Bolton, as undersecretary of state for arms control and international security, added Cuba, Libya, and Syria to the list in May 2002.

The Russian and Iranian governments have not commented on Mr Johnson's statement.

The controversial statement by the US House Speaker came as relations between the US and China have shown signs of stabilizing in recent months, although the two sides remain tense over many issues such as Taiwan.

After meeting on the sidelines of the APEC summit in California in November 2023, US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed to manage tensions in the relationship, including a proposal to resume bilateral defense dialogue.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin held a video conference with his Chinese counterpart Dong Jun on April 16 to discuss defense relations and regional and global security issues. This was the first exchange in nearly 18 months between the two countries' top defense leaders.

Pham Giang (According to Newsweek, RT, Reuters )