The annual report of the US Department of Defense on Chinese military and security development, released on May 6, is full of groundless speculations on the strength and aim of China's armed forces. In fact, it is out of tune with the development trend of Sino-US relations.

Briefing reporters at the Pentagon, David F. Helvey, US deputy assistant secretary of defense for East Asia, claimed the report was not speculative. The report has six chapters and four additional special topics on China's combat capability and its main body is 68 pages long compared with the 19 pages of the 2012 report. It covers an entire gamut of cases and data, which have been selectively included to show that China poses a military threat to other countries.

For instance, in the chapter titled "Understanding China's Strategy", the report says China employed "punitive trade policies" in response to the arrest of the captain of a Chinese fishing vessel after it collided with Japan coast guard boats in the disputed waters off the Diaoyu Islands in 2010. It also says the Philippines and Vietnam have had to bear the brunt of China's pressure in the South China Sea and misinterprets China's assertiveness in defending its sovereignty and territorial integrity as a deviation from the path of peaceful development.

The report mentions China's internal debate on its long-held principle of maintaining a low profile and alleges that Beijing may seek to play an aggressive role in regional and global issues. Even China's proposal of building a new type of power relationship has been misinterpreted as its aspiration to be regarded as a great power. And the commissioning of first and only aircraft carrier, Liaoning, the report says, is a sign of China flexing its military muscles to win regional maritime conflicts.

The report is littered with what the US claims is "evidence", to exaggerate China's military strength. For instance, it says that up to five Jin-class nuclear-powered, ballistic missile-carrying submarines may enter the services of the Chinese navy to give it the first credible sea-based nuclear deterrent, which is nothing but a baseless guess.

Compared with previous US annual reports on China's military, the latest one has more information about China's cyber capabilities and activities. It accuses China of using companies, research institutes and computer network operations to collect sensitive information and acquire export-controlling technology. But the report fails to furnish any concrete proof to this effect.

The report is actually an attempt to misguide international opinion against China to serve the US' strategic interests, an art that it mastered decades ago. The US used to release annual reports on the military strength of the former Soviet Union during the Cold War, and earlier this year it issued a report on the military of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea for the first time amid escalating tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

The surge in anti-war sentiments in the US over the past few years spurred the call to end the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. But the withdrawal of American troops from Iraq - and Afghanistan next year - has hurt the vested interests such as the Pentagon and arms manufacturers and suppliers. So portraying a rising China as a simulated enemy will divert the attention of the US' strategic failures and help the Pentagon to get Congress approval for its budget and arms dealers to secure their orders.

The US army has been leading the fight against terrorism for years undermining the role of the navy and air force. So the report's emphasis on access- and area-denial capabilities of the Chinese military is aimed at laying the ground for the US military to acquire resources to translate its air-sea battle concept into reality.

The report suggests that the US' policy toward China still wavers between containment and engagement. Despite the in-depth structural differences between the two countries, the US is fully aware of the need to secure China's support and cooperation in a wide range of regional and global issues. That is why the report, despite portraying the Chinese military as a threat, acknowledges China's growing international influence and highlights the principles that should be adhered to in military-to-military contacts between the two countries.

Such exchanges, according to the report, should help enhance the two militaries' ability to interact on a tactical or operational level, foster mutual understanding, clear misconceptions and allow the two countries' leaders to address global security challenges. This perhaps is the only redeeming feature of the US report.

That the US has come up with sensational speculations on China's military is not new. For instance, the 2004 US report said the Chinese mainland might launch a "decapitation strike" on Taiwan. And the 2006 report alleged that China's military development had already undermined the US' strategic capability to intervene in Asia-Pacific regional issues.

But with China growing in confidence and becoming more transparent in military affairs, the international community has gained far deeper knowledge about China's military development. And this will make the US false accusations and groundless speculations less eye-catching in the future.

The author is a senior colonel and deputy director of the Center for China-America Defense Relations, the Academy of Military Science, PLA.

(China Daily 05/13/2013 page9)