BEIJING \u2014 China on Sunday accused the US of deliberately distorting the facts in a report on the Asian giant’s defense policy, warning Washington it had “severely damaged” trust between the superpowers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Pentagon on Friday said Beijing had been building up military facilities on reefs and islets in a bid to assert its claims to the contested waters of the South China Sea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
China’s military has also been using “coercive tactics” to foster tensions with its neighbors, but will ensure they do not snowball into outright conflict, according to the annual report to Congress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n
Beijing hit back on Sunday in comments published in state media, with a defense ministry spokesman saying the Pentagon report had “deliberately distorted China’s defense policies.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“It is the United States that has been flexing military muscles by frequently sending military aircraft and warships to the region,” spokesman Yang Yujun said, according to the official news agency Xinhua.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“The US annual report on China’s military and security developments has severely damaged mutual trust between the two sides.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yang accused the US of being behind the “militarization in the South China Sea,”\u00a0parts of which are claimed by Vietnam, Taiwan, Brunei, Malaysia and the Philippines as well as China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n
The South China Sea, an important shipping route thought to be home to vast energy deposits, has become a growing source of tension between Beijing and Washington as the US turns its focus on Asia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Washington fears Beijing is seeking to impose military controls over the entire area, where China has built massive structures including radar systems and airstrips on reclaimed reefs and islets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Pentagon report estimated China has reclaimed 3,200 acres (1,300 hectares) of land around the Spratly Islands, also claimed by the Philippines, over the past two years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Beijing has been angered by the growing US attention on Asia and US forays into the Sea, including sailing warships close to reclaimed islands.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
China on Sunday accused the US of deliberately distorting the facts in a report on the Asian giant\u2019s defense policy, warning Washington it had \u201cseverely damaged\u201d trust between the superpowers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":116419,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":45,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[45,11,33],"tags":[],"coauthors":[2793],"class_list":["post-61002","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-asia-pacific","category-global","category-home"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"TETEHUQ63ZFMVG3WLIQL66N5TM","arc_canonical_url":"\/global\/asia-pacific\/2016\/05\/15\/china-says-pentagon-report-severely-damaged-relations\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n