China has objected to the latest Pentagon report on Chinese military development and capability, calling it a continuation of playing up the so-called "Chinese military threat" card.

The US Department of Defense released its research — Military and Security Developments Involving the People's Republic of China 2016 — on May 13 as an annual report to Congress mandated by law.

Abraham Denmark, deputy assistant secretary of defense for East Asia, said in a briefing on May 13 that China's investment in military and weaponry operations continues on a path to increase its power projection, anti-access and area denial and its operations in cyberspace, space and electromagnetic emerging domains.

"China continues to focus on preparing for potential conflict in the Taiwan Straits," Denmark said, "but additional missions such as contingencies in the East and South China seas and on the Korean Peninsula are increasingly important to the [People's Liberation Army]."

Denmark also described the Chinese defense budget as underestimated.

Talking about the Chinese military modernization program entering a new phase in 2015, Denmark expressed concerns about Chinese activities in the South China Sea, the growing global military presence and large-scale military reforms.

Yang Yujun, spokesman for China's Ministry of National Defense, said that the report continues to play up the cliché of a "China military threat" and "opacity of Chinese military capability".

In a statement posted on the ministry website on May 14, Yang called the report "improper talk" when it comes to issues such as Chinese military reform, overseas military operations, development of weaponry and military equipment, the military budget, space, cyberspace and Taiwan.

"(It) wantonly distorted China's national defense policy and the legal activities in the East and South China seas," Yang said.

"The Chinese side expresses its strong dissatisfaction and resolute opposition (to the report)," he said.

Yang reiterated that China sticks firmly to a national defense policy that is defensive in nature, and Chinese military reform and modernization is aimed at ensuring China's national sovereignty, security, territorial integrity and peaceful development of the nation.

He said the US side continues to harbor suspicions about China's strategic intentions and labels China's normal weaponry and military equipment development as "anti-access" or "area denial".

"Why is the US side expressing such concerns if it is still not embracing a Cold War mentality?" he asked.

He also defended China's construction on reefs and isles in the Nansha Islands as not only meeting the necessary requirements for national defense, but even more so in serving civilian purposes and carrying out China's international obligations.

He blasted the US' flexing its muscle by dispatching military planes and vessels in the South China as exercising hegemony and militarizing the region.

He said Chinese overseas military operations, such as peacekeeping, rescue and disaster relief, are effectively fulfilling international obligations and providing public good for the international community.

Of the five permanent UN Security Council members, China now contributes the most personnel to peacekeeping efforts, a fact that was praised last week in a seminar in Washington by Joseph Nye, a Harvard professor and former US assistant secretary of defense.

Yang described the Pentagon's annual report as gravely damaging to mutual trust and running counter to the development of the China-US military relationship. He said China will react further after studying the report in more detail.

The Pentagon report also includes chapters on bilateral military contacts and exchanges. Denmark said the US approach to China centers on reducing risk, expanding common ground and maintaining US military superiority.

Despite tensions, the two militaries have witnessed frequent high-level visits, joint exercises and port calls in recent years.

chenweihua@chinadailyusa.com