BEIJING _ China pushed back on U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's accusation that it stole a U.S. naval drone last week.
China seized the drone to protect shipping safety in the region, foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told reporters in Beijing on Monday. The government didn't like the word "steal" to describe its actions, she said, without mentioning Trump's name.
Trump said on Saturday that China had stolen the drone in an "unprecedented act." Later, he repeated the accusation in a follow-up Twitter message in which he said that China should keep the drone.
China's military is still in talks with U.S. counterparts over returning the drone, she said.
