Chinese Ambassador to the United States Cui Tiankai delivers a speech during the 40th anniversary of China-U.S. student exchange in Washington D.C., the United States, Nov. 21, 2019. (Xinhua/Liu Jie)

"The national security concerns, generally speaking, are legitimate concerns for all countries. But we have to be careful not to be misled, not to be blinded, certainly not to be trapped by groundless fear, suspicion and even hatred," Chinese Ambassador Cui Tiankai said.

The United States and China should not be misled by groundless national security concerns in dealing with the world's most important bilateral relations between the two countries, Chinese Ambassador Cui Tiankai has said.

"The national security concerns, generally speaking, are legitimate concerns for all countries. But we have to be careful not to be misled, not to be blinded, certainly not to be trapped by groundless fear, suspicion and even hatred," said Cui in a recent interview with former U.S. Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson during the podcast program "Straight Talk with Hank Paulson."

"I don't think that will make anybody safe. That will make everybody less secure. This is just against the need for national security," he said.

"Look at the history of the past 40 years or 50 years. Both China and the United States took good care of national security while we developed mutual ties, deepened and widened our relations," he said. "I don't think the national security of either China or United States was hurt in the process. Actually, it was helped."

"If you have more interaction with each other, you know better the other side. You know how the guys on the other side think, their mindset, their strengths and weaknesses, and you know much better how to deal with them, how to avoid the risks, how to promote mutually beneficial cooperation. This is the experience we have learned over the last 40 or 50 years. Why should we change it?" the ambassador said.