China has slammed a critical Pentagon report on the Communist country’s military ambitions, saying the US is the one that poses the biggest threat to the international order and world peace.
Col. Wu Qian, spokesman from the Chinese Defence Ministry on Sunday called the report a ‘wanton distortion’ of China’s aims and the relationship between the People’s Liberation Army and China’s 1.4 billion people.
The statement comes after the US Defence Department claims China’s rapid military development would have ‘serious implications for US national interests and the security of the international rules-based order’ in an annual report.
In this Thursday, September 3, 2015 file photo, Chinese President Xi Jinping is displayed on a screen as Type 99A2 Chinese battle tanks take part in a parade commemorating the 70th anniversary of Japan’s surrender during World War II held in front of Tiananmen Gate in Beijing
Col. Wu Qian (pictured in the file photo on June 29, 2017), spokesman from the Chinese Defence Ministry on Sunday called the report a ‘wanton distortion’ of China’s aims and the relationship between the People’s Liberation Army and China’s 1.4 billion people
The Pentagon report , released on September 2, detailed China’s military capabilities while claiming China has the largest Navy in the world. Soldiers of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy take part in a ceremony as a replenishment ship sets sail to the Gulf of Aden and the waters off Somalia, from a naval port in Qingdao, Shandong province on September 3
The Pentagon report, released on September 2, detailed China’s military capabilities while claiming China has the largest Navy in the world.
China is also expected to double the size of its nuclear arsenal in the next decade as the country seeks to further expand its global power, the US warned.
The analysis continued by saying that China already achieved parity with – or even exceeded – the US in several military modernisation areas.
It also claimed that the Chinese military has made major progress in ship building, the development of ballistic and cruise missiles as well as integrated air defence systems.
China’s Defense Ministry spokesman Col. Wu Qian blasted the US report, calling it a ‘wanton distortion’.
‘Many years of evidence shows that it is the US that is the fomenter of regional unrest, the violator of the international order and the destroyer of world peace,’ he said.
China is expected to double the size of its nuclear arsenal in the next decade while owning the world’s largest navy, the US has warned. The file picture taken on September 3, 2015, shows Intermediate-range ballistic missile ‘DF-26’ driving past the Tiananmen Square, Beijing
The report, which detailed China’s military capabilities, was rejected by the country’s foreign ministry. The file picture taken on June 3, 2019 shows Chinese navy personnel on board a Chinese navel ship after it arrived at Garden Island Naval Base in Sydney, Australia
US actions in Iraq, Syria, Libya and other countries over the past two decades have resulted in the deaths of more than 800,000 people and displacement of millions, Qian said.
‘Rather than reflecting on itself, the US issued a so-called report that made false comments about China’s normal defence and military construction,’ he said in the statement.
‘We call on the US to view China’s national defense and military construction objectively and rationally, cease making false statements and related reports, and take concrete actions to safeguard the healthy development of bilateral military relations.’
Hua Chunying, a spokeswoman of the Chinese foreign ministry, also told a news briefing earlier this month that The Pentagon’s claims were filled with bias.
Running to more than 150 pages, the Defense Department report examined the PLA’s technical capabilities, doctrines and the ultimate aims of China’s military buildup. It said it includes becoming a ‘practical instrument’ of China’s statecraft with an active role in advancing Beijing’s foreign policy and ‘aims to revise aspects of the international order.’
‘Certainly, many factors will determine how this course unfolds,’ the report said. ‘What is certain is that (the ruling Communist Party) has a strategic end state that it is working towards, which, if achieved and its accompanying military modernization left unaddressed, will have serious implications for US national interests and the security of the international rules-based order.’
Taiwan has complained that China has stepped up threatening military activities in recent months near the island which Beijing considers its own. The file picture taken in April 2018 shows China’s sole operational aircraft carrier, the Liaoning (front), during a drill at sea
Much of the report was devoted to analysing China’s strategy toward Taiwan, a US ally which China considers a part of its territory to be annexed by force if necessary.
China’s military capabilities dwarf those of the island of 23 million in numerical terms, although any invasion of Taiwan would be complex and would carry major political risks, the report said.
It also looked at areas where the 2 million-member PLA, the world’s largest standing military, has overtaken the US, including in the size of its navy, now the world’s largest with approximately 350 ships and submarines compared to around 293 for the US
China has also built a considerable arsenal of land-based ballistic and cruise missiles and has one of the world´s largest forces of advanced long-range surface-to-air systems, the report said.
This year’s report comes as relations between Beijing and Washington have hit their lowest ebb in decades amid simmering disputes over trade, technology, Taiwan, human rights and the South China Sea.