BEIJING, July 22 -- China on Monday refuted an open letter by a retired U.S. Pacific Fleet captain, saying instigating China-U.S. confrontation is a dangerous wrong road and urging relevant people of the U.S. to stop making "baseless slandering and accusations."

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang made the remarks at a press conference in Beijing.

According to media reports, in an open letter recently made public via American media outlets, James E. Fanell, former director of intelligence and information operations for the U.S. Pacific Fleet, criticized China's internal and foreign policies and supported the U.S. government in taking a confrontational line against China.

"The so-called open letter, full of ideological biases, and a cold war and zero-sum game mindset, has in every possible way slandered and smeared China's internal and foreign policies, and instigated conflict and confrontation between the two sides," Geng said, dismissing much of the letter's content as "totally untenable."

Geng said that the name list of joint signatures even included Falungong cult members, which in itself has largely undermined the seriousness of the letter.

The letter can neither represent the mainstream popular will in American society nor hold sway over the way forward for China-U.S. ties, and it is doomed to be discarded into the trash dump of history, Geng said.

"Instigating China-U.S. conflict and confrontation is a dangerous wrong road while promoting win-win cooperation between the two sides represents the right path to follow," the spokesperson said.

The Chinese side urges relevant people of the U.S. to adopt a correct view toward China's development and Sino-U.S. relations, stop making baseless slandering and accusations against China and work for the development of bilateral ties and world peace, stability and prosperity.

Noting the important contributions China has made in safeguarding world peace, promoting global prosperity and upholding international order over the past 70 years since the founding of the People's Republic of China, Geng said China's development path as well as internal and foreign policies are "clear and consistent," and voiced China's commitment to jointly building a community with a shared future for humanity with the rest of the international community.

"Cooperation between China and the United States, the two major powers, will lead to mutual benefits, while confrontation will only result in doing harm to both sides," Geng said, calling on the two countries to facilitate cooperation and work for common development.

The two sides should jointly advance China-U.S. relations based on coordination, cooperation and stability in accordance with the principles and directions defined by the two heads of state, to better benefit the two countries and peoples worldwide, he added.