According to the annual Defense Department report to the Congress on Chinese military developments and goals, the PLA is rapidly expanding its sphere of influence especially in space and cyber warfare capabilities, and that its current prime target is the USA.
The pentagon’s report, predictably, caught the backlash from the PRC’s Defense Ministry, whose spokesperson Col. Wu Qian called it a “wanton distortion” of China’s aims and the relationship between the People’s Liberation Army and China’s people.
Wu said, “Many years of evidence shows that it is the U.S. that is the fomenter of regional unrest, the violator of the international order and the destroyer of world peace,” thrashing America’s claims over its policies.
“Rather than reflecting on itself, the U.S. issued a so-called report that made false comments about China’s normal defense and military construction. We call on the U.S. to view China’s national defense and military construction objectively and rationally, cease making false statements and related reports, and take concrete actions to safeguard the healthy development of bilateral military relations,” he stated, pointing out to the American military interventions in the Middle East and Africa.
He added that the U.S. interventions have resulted in more than 800,000 deaths and displacement of millions.
The Pentagon’s report mentioned that China’s international policies aim to reverse the prevailing world order and peace. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, China is being criticized for its policies globally, especially its neighbors and the west, followed by the entente.
Additionally, in a rare press briefing by the Chief of Britain’s Defense Intelligence Agency, Lt. Gen. Jim Hockenhull said that China and Russia are the key adversaries challenging the existing ‘world order’ without directly participating in conflicts and operating in the expanding grey zone between war and peacetime.
“The PRC’s space enterprise continues to mature rapidly. Beijing has devoted significant resources to growing all aspects of its space program, from military space applications to civil applications such as profit-generating launches, scientific endeavors, and space exploration”, the Pentagon report says.
It also found out that the PLA-Navy’s flotilla has grown to become the largest naval fleet in the world, with an overall battle force of approximately 350 ships and submarines including over 130 major surface combatants. In comparison, the U.S. Navy’s battle force is approximately 293 ships as of early 2020.
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