国际英语新闻：U.S. not trying to dictate on Egypt: spokesman

WASHINGTON, Feb. 9 (Xinhua) -- The United States is not trying to dictate anything on how Egypt should move out of the crisis engulfing the country, U.S. State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said on Wednesday.

He was responding to criticism by Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit that the U.S. is imposing its will on Egypt by dictating on how to move on through the crisis.

"We're not trying to dictate anything," Crowley said at a regular press briefing. "As we've said and emphasized many times, there will be an Egyptian solution, you know, and Egyptian actions within this orderly transition."

Since mass anti-government protests erupted on Jan. 25 in Egypt calling for free and fair elections as well as an end to President Hosni Mubarak's 30-year rule, U.S. President Barack Obama and other top officials have oftentimes made public calls, at first for immediate transition but days later for orderly transition.

In his latest phone call to his Egyptian counterpart Omar Suleiman on Tuesday, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden called for an orderly transition in Egypt that is "prompt, meaningful, peaceful, and legitimate." He demanded, among others, that the Egyptian government immediately rescind the emergency law and invite the opposition as a partner in jointly developing a roadmap and timetable for transition.

In an interview with American PBS television on Wednesday, Gheit said that "When you speak about prompt, immediate, now -- as if you are imposing on a great country like Egypt, a great friend that has always maintained the best of relationship with the United States, you are imposing your will on him."