Defense Ministry calls U.S. report 'poisonous' to ties

Washington said to disregard facts concerning China's military efforts

The Defense Ministry has strongly slammed the recent security report released by U.S. President Donald Trump, saying it has exaggerated and disregarded facts about China's efforts to modernize its national defense.

Military experts also said that the report, which for the first time explicitly labeled China as a competitor both economically and militarily, is "poisonous" to Sino-U.S. relations.

In an online statement published late Wednesday, Senior Colonel Ren Guoqiang, a spokesman for the Defense Ministry, slammed speculation about China's military development mentioned in the 2017 U.S. National Security Strategy Report published by U.S. administration on Monday.

The report has exaggerated and disregarded facts about China's efforts to modernize its national defense, and questioned the intention of China's military development, Ren said.

The report contradicted the world's current theme of peace and development, as well as the trend of Sino-U.S. relations, he added.

In the report, the U.S. accused China of stealing U.S. intellectual property worth hundreds of billions of dollars per year, claimed the Chinese military is "designed to deny America access" to certain regions, and said Chinese investments are "expanding influence to gain competitive advantage against the U.S." .

In the 2015 security report, the U.S. mentioned the Paris Agreement as a bright spot in Sino-U.S. relations, but the latest report has nothing positive to say about China in the 23 times the country's name is mentioned, despite China and the U.S. signing a historic $250 billion in trade deals last month.

Ren said China's contribution to maintaining world peace and mutual development is evident to the world. "Any country or report that tries to distort the facts and make insinuations will find its efforts in vain," he said.

"We hope the U.S. will abandon its Cold War mentality, be objective and rational when examining Chinese military development and work with China to promote dialogue, cooperation and positive interaction between the two countries' militaries," Ren said.

"Cooperation will bring prosperity to both countries, but confrontation will bring disasters," he said. "Working together is the only right option for Sino-U.S. relations."

Senior Colonel Liang Fang, a professor at the National Defense University of the People's Liberation Army, said on Thursday that the recent U.S. report is "poisonous to Sino-U.S. relations" and "extremely worrisome" because it is the first time that the U.S. government has so explicitly labeled China as a competitor both economically and militarily.

"For the first time in history, the U.S. is acknowledging the fact that China's rapid rise is challenging its status as the world's sole superpower, and the report reflects U.S. politicians' anxiety," she said, adding that most of the Sino-U.S. conflict is ideologically based, and the U.S. administration is using this fact as leverage to carve out more economic gains for the U.S..

"The ideological rift between China and the U.S. is still too great to overcome with just economic ties," she said. "The U.S. will use the money earned from China to beef up its military presence in Asia to serve its own strategic needs. ... China needs to find a new foundation other than economics to build cooperation with the U.S.."