Chinese defense ministry slams US annual defense policy bill

China's Defense Ministry expressed strong dissatisfaction with and firm opposition to the United States National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2025, which was newly signed to law, a spokesman said on Thursday.

Zhang Xiaogang, the ministry's spokesman, made the remarks in a news conference in Beijing, in response to the NDAA which announced a defense budget of up to 895 billion US dollars for the next fiscal year and identified China as one of the major challenges to the US national security.

The NDAA hyped up the so-called China military threat as an excuse to increase US military spending and maintain its hegemony, grossly interfering with China's internal affairs and undermining world peace and stability, he said.

China has no intention to challenge any country, while in fact, the "worst enemy" of the US is the US itself, said Zhang.

US military expenditure has already topped the world for long, and is still increasing rapidly year by year, which fully exposes the belligerent nature of the US and its obsession with hegemony and expansion, he said.

"It's clear to all that many current wars and conflicts are a result of US policy failures," said the defense official.

"The wars and military operations launched by the US since 2001 have caused more than hundreds of thousands of deaths and millions of injuries and displaced tens of millions of people. The US' abuse of force not only brings harm to the world but also accelerates its own decline," he said.

The spokesman stressed that the Earth is big enough for both China and the US to develop individually and collectively.

"China remains committed to the path of peaceful development and a defense policy that is defensive in nature. We do not engage in any arms race with any other country, and always serve as a defender for world peace," said Zhang.

"We urge the US side to abandon Cold War mentality and zero-sum mindset, and get rid of its obsessive delusion of containing and outcompeting China, so as not to undermine the bilateral relations between the two nations and militaries," said the spokesman.

With stronger capacities and more reliable methods, the Chinese military will take resolute countermeasures against any infringements and provocations to safeguard national sovereignty, security and development interests, he warned.