BEIJING (AFP/Reuters) - China Sunday blamed the US for causing serious disturbances in their relationship but also called for the two Pacific powers to work together to get ties back on track. The Iran nuclear dispute is one of a number of issues that are testing ties between China and the US. The two countries have tussled recently over trade, Chinese internet controls, US weapons sales to Taiwan, and Obamas meeting with the Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan Buddhist leader. Beijing considers Taiwan an illegitimate breakaway from mainland rule, and reviles the Dalai Lama as a separatist. FM Yang Jiechi reiterated Chinas criticism of US arms sales to Taiwan and US President Barack Obamas meeting last month with the Dalai Lama but appeared to leave the door open for the two sides to mend fences. The United States should properly handle the relevant sensitive issues and work with the Chinese side to return the China-US relationship to a track of stable development, Yang told reporters. Stressing that a harmonious relationship was vital to both sides and to the world, he added we hope the US will work with us in a joint effort towards this end. Yang was speaking in his annual Press briefing held on the sidelines of Chinas March 5-14 parliament session, and his comments come with Sino-US relations at a low point. The US announced it January it would go ahead with a 6.4-billion-dollar arms sale to Taiwan despite warnings by China, which had also urged Obama not to meet the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader at the White House. Yang repeated Chinas assertion that the troubles were the US fault and called for credible steps by Washington to mend ties. However, he gave no specifics and unveiled no new retaliatory steps. On Iran, the Chinese Foreign Minister said new sanctions on the Islamic republic will not solve the standoff over its nuclear programme, while chiding the United States after two months of tensions between the big powers. As everyone knows, pressure and sanctions are not the fundamental way forward to resolving the Iran nuclear issue, and cannot fundamentally solve this issue, Yang told the news conference. Frankly speaking, there are some difficulties surrounding efforts to settle the Iranian nuclear issue at present, but we dont think diplomatic efforts have been exhausted, he said. Yang said relations between the two powers - China and the US - had been seriously upset, and he blamed Washington. I believe the United States understands very well Chinas core interests and major concerns, he said, referring to Taiwan and Tibet. Beijing has not yet acted on its threat to sanction US companies involved in $6.4 billion of new arms sales to Taiwan that the Obama administration moved forward with in late January. Yang said it was wrong to say China had become hawkish. Resolutely adhering to ones principled stance is not the same thing as being hard line, he said. Meanwhile, the new Chinese-appointed governor of Tibet said that only socialism can save the remote region and guarantee its development, and blamed the Dalai Lama for Tibets problems. Padma Choling, an ethnic Tibetan appointed governor in January, blamed the regions problems on exiled spiritual leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner the Dalai Lama. The main source of instability in Tibet is the Dalai Lama, and it is also he who causes trouble for Tibets economic development and socio-economic progress, Padma Choling told reporters on the sidelines of the annual meeting of parliament.