China to US: Drop Cold War mentality

Beijing strongly objected to the Pentagon’s annual assessment of China’s military capabilities and intentions, Reuters reported. The report, released Wednesday, argues that the process and strategy behind China’s ongoing military modernization is opaque and therefore increases the likelihood of “miscalculation.” It also claims China is increasing its “coercive” capability vis-a-vis Taiwan. State media called the report groundless speculation and quoted a People’s Liberation Army general who rejected the suggestion that China’s military development is not transparent. China began to submit a report on its military expenditures to the UN in 2007, but the Pentagon report claims that published military expenditure figues are incomplete. Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang denounced the report as an artifact of a “Cold War mentality.” Qin warned that the report would damage relations and called for the US to stop publishing it in the future.