North Korea’s foreign ministry on Wednesday condemned “reckless” recent remarks by the U.S. Secretary of State on China’s maritime claims in the South China Sea, accusing Washington of working to undermine Beijing’s political system.

In a statement to the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), a spokesperson for Pyongyang’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) said that the U.S. was trying to defame the Communist Party of China (CPC) as part of a broader scheme to “overpower” the country.

“Pompeo is making unbridled criticism of the CPC… to sully the trust of the Chinese people in the CPC,” the spokesperson said, accusing Washington of working to “tarnish the international prestige of the CPC.”

The statement follows remarks by Secretary of State Pompeo on Monday, in which he argued that Beijing’s broad territorial claims in the South China Sea were “unlawful” and accused China of bullying its neighbors in its efforts to exert hegemony over the region.

North Korea’s foreign ministry on Wednesday derided those remarks as “reckless” and “very dangerous.”

“It is an extremely sinister act that a non-Asian country across the ocean, not being content with its reckless remarks over the issue of the South China Sea, has hurled abuses at the CPC,” the spokesperson told KCNA on Wednesday.

Pyongyang knows Pompeo’s true intentions, the MFA spokesperson said, accusing the Secretary of State of trying to “slander” and “deride” China’s socialist system.

North Korea has strongly backed its long-time benefactor throughout growing tensions between China and the U.S., with its ambassador to the country last month promising Pyongyang would “fight side by side” with Beijing against alleged U.S. aggression.

North Korean party daily the Rodong Sinmun often carried news on Chinese foreign ministry responses to U.S. policies, and Pyongyang has repeatedly drawn parallels between U.S. criticism of China’s political system to Washington’s condemnation of itself.

A rare statement from the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK) Central Committee (CC) International Department last month argued that U.S. condemnation of China revealed its “intention to do the same thing to socialism in the DPRK led by the WPK.”

North Korea’s foreign ministry reiterated that claim Wednesday, arguing that the Secretary of State’s “unbridled criticism” represented an “insult to the Chinese people.”

“We have already grasped on several occasions that Pompeo deals with our socialist system led by the Workers’ Party of Korea on the basis of the morbid and upside down viewpoint on China,” the spokesperson said.

“No matter how maliciously Pompeo slanders the CPC and the socialist system led by it, it will only serve to highlight the invincibility of the CPC and the superiority of the socialist system.”

Edited by Oliver Hotham