The Chinese government launched a strong criticism of a Pentagon report about China's growing military capabilities. In an editorial, China's state news agency Xinhua accused Pentagon analysts of exaggerating the threat from China's increased military spending and questioned whether China's naval expansion would destabilize the region as the Pentagon report suggested. The unusually harsh response from China points to increasing confidence as other nations face economic weakness, though the Pentagon maintains China's military still has outdated equipment and lacks experience.

1. Seek4media:
Chinese
Government
Unleashes
a
Blistering
Attack
on
the
Pentagon
China
has
unleashed
a
blistering
attack
on
the
Pentagon,
accusing
its
analysts
of
dreaming
up
an
"utterly
cock
and
bull
story"
and
massively
exaggerating
the
threat
posed
by
increased
Chinese
military
expenditure.
The
comments
came
hours
after
Washington
released
an
annual
assessment
of
Beijing's
military
modernisation
programme,
warning
that
by
2020
China
will
be
able
to
project
maritime
power
well
beyond
its
shores.
Beijing's
unusually
fierce,
and
effectively
official,
response
came
in
an
editorial
by
the
state
Xinhua
news
agency:
the
same
medium
used
this
month
to
criticise
America's
"addiction"
to
debt.
The
article
took
particular
exception
to
the
suggestion
that
China
would
use
its
increasing
naval
power
in
the
South
China
Sea
a
region
where
competing
territorial
and
resource
claims
already
threaten
conflagration.
It
accused
a
senior
US
military
officer
of
"prematurely
and
maybe
ridiculously"
asserting
that
an
expanded
Chinese
naval
presence
would
have
implications
for
regional
rivalries
and
power
dynamics.
Although
Japan,
Vietnam,
the
Philippines
and
Taiwan
feel
those
concerns
acutely,
the
Xinhua
editorial
concluded
that
any
suggestion
that
China
was
focused
on
anything
other
than
self-­‐defence
was
"based
on
a
wild
guess
and
illogical
reasoning".
The
increasingly
strident
terms
used
by
Xinhua,
analysts
say,
point
to
a
China
whose
confidence
has
been
buoyed
by
economic
frailty
in
the
West.
Echoing
its
previous
attack
on
America's
colossal
military
spending,
the
editorial
yesterday
said
that
for
many
in
China,
it
was
strange
to
hear
such
comments
from
the
Pentagon
"whose
expenditures...
accounted
for
more
than
an
appalling
40
per
cent
of
the
world's
total
in
2010".
In
the
annual
report
to
Congress,
the
Pentagon
warned
that
China
was
planning
to
build
"multiple"
aircraft
carriers
and
predicted
that
it
would
have
its
first
indigenous
carrier
by
2015.

2.
The
Chinese
Navy
recently
completed
a
four-­‐day
sea
trial
of
the
Varyag:
a
refurbished
Soviet-­‐era
aircraft
carrier,
which
it
plans
to
use
for
training
fighter
pilots.
Listing
a
range
of
growing
military
capabilities,
including
anti-­‐ship
ballistic
missiles,
new
submarines
and
warships,
enhanced
cyber
warfare
technologies
and
a
planned
road-­‐mobile
intercontinental
ballistic
missile,
the
Pentagon
report
highlighted
the
potential
threat
this
posed
to
the
region,
an
issue
of
growing
concern
in
Washington
despite
signs
of
improving
US-­‐China
military
relations.
Although
the
Pentagon
report
is
produced
with
contributions
from
across
the
US
Administration,
the
alarm
bells
over
China's
burgeoning
military
may
come
at
a
time
when
the
Pentagon
is
having
to
cut
its
budget
by
$400
billion
(£250
billion)
over
the
next
ten
years,
and
possibly
double
that
figure
if
the
Congressional
deficit-­‐
cutting
committee
set
up
by
President
Obama
recommends
a
more
dramatic
reduction.
The
report
will
serve
as
a
reminder
to
Mr
Obama
and
Congress
that
the
US
will
need
to
spend
money
developing
systems
to
counter
any
growing
threat
by
China
to
the
East
Asian
region
and,
in
particular
to
Taiwan,
which
the
US
is
committed
to
defend.
The
Pentagon
report
emphasised
the
positive
role
China
has
played
in
counter-­‐piracy,
disaster
relief
and
peacekeeping.
But
when
asked
at
a
press
briefing
whether
the
developing
carrier
programme
would
be
seen
in
that
light,
Michael
Schiffer,
the
deputy
assistant
secretary
of
defence
for
East
Asia,
replied:
"Whether
this
proves
to
be
a
net
plus
for
the
region,
or
for
the
globe,
or
proves
to
be
something
that
has
destabilising
effects
and
raises
blood
pressure
in
various
regional
capitals,
I
think
remains
to
be
seen."
China's
military,
the
report
said,
still
had
large
amounts
of
outdated
equipment
and
lacked
operational
experience,
but
was
"steadily
closing
the
technological
gap
with
modern
armed
forces".
Mr
Schiffer
raised
China's
cyber
warfare
capabilities
as
one
of
the
issues
of
increasing
concern.
In
the
past
year,
numerous
computer
systems
had
been
targeted
around
the
world,
by
attacks
which
"appear
to
have
originated
within
China",
he
said.

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