Beijing, China - Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi has said that Beijing and Washington have the potential to achieve "many great things" if they work together, rather than against each other.

Ahead of US President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration next month, China's foreign minister used a symposium in Beijing to project optimism about the upcoming US administration.

Under the Biden administration, Beijing has faced numerous sanctions over its tacit support of Russia in Ukraine, as well as its treatment of Uyghur minority people in the country's north-east Xinjiang province.

Chinese authorities have also sanctioned the US over its arming of Taiwan and has repeatedly clashed with the Philippines, an ally of Washington, in violent exchanges in the South China Sea.

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Despite many of the US' sanctions having been initially introduced during Trump's first term, China's foreign minister Wang Yi spoke with an air of optimism during Tuesday's symposium.

Wang began by praising US-China cooperation over the fentanyl drug trade, saying that such collaboration proves, "that as long as China and the United States cooperate, we can accomplish many great things."

"We hope the new US administration will make the right choices, work with China in the same direction, eliminate disruptions, overcome obstacles, and strive for stable, healthy, and sustainable development of China-US relations," foreign minister Wang Yi said.

Despite the optimism, foreign minister Wang took the opportunity to warn the US that it would defend its "legitimate rights and interests" over the issue of Taiwan and "safeguard the basic norms" of the One China principle.

According to Wang Yi, China has "resolutely opposed illegal and unreasonable suppression by the US, especially its crude interference in China's internal affairs on issues such as Taiwan."