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Chinese foreign ministry lashes out at Pentagon

China lashed back yesterday at a US report on its military might, saying the Pentagon was playing up the issue for ulterior motives and warning Washington against selling weapons to Taiwan.

"The US Defense Department's report exaggerates China's military expenditures out of ulterior motives and continues to disseminate the `China threat' theory," foreign ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu (姜瑜) said in a statement.

"It seriously violates the norms of international relations and rudely interferes in China's internal affairs. China expresses its strong dissatisfaction and firm opposition," she said.

Jiang also called Taiwan "an inseparable part of China's territory," urging the US to "stop weapons sales and military exchanges with Taiwan and not send any wrong signals to Taiwanese pro-independence forces."

Jiang's statement was the first direct government response to Friday's Pentagon report, following commentary in the state-run media over the weekend.

The report expressed concern at the deployment of long-range ballistic nuclear missiles, and a ballooning and non-transparent budget.

Jiang responded by calling China "a peace-loving country" and "an important force for peace in the Asia-Pacific and the world."

"It's the duty of any sovereign nation to maintain a necessary defense ability in order to protect its national security and territorial integrity. The American report's dissemination of the so-called `China threat' theory is misleading and fruitless," she said.

Meanwhile, the head of the US Pacific Command said he believed Chinese military leaders were intensely interested in acquiring aircraft carriers, the Washington Times reported yesterday.

The daily said Admiral Timothy Keating picked up on their interest during a recent visit to China, but said he had warned the Chinese about the huge challenges involved in building and manning an aircraft carrier.

"I suggested let's not be naive about the complexity of those ships, and they are not cheap," Keating is quoted as saying.

"This would be a profoundly difficult venture if the Chinese choose to undertake it," Keating is quoted as saying.
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