War of words intensifies as US and China clash over territorial claims

China has lashed out at a Pentagon report accusing its military of excessive secrecy, even as the head of United States' Pacific Command yesterday delivered a warning to Beijing by saying that the US will not stand by idle as the Asian giant asserts its contested territorial claims in the South China Sea.

• Chinese soldiers on manoeuvres in the Henan Province. A Pentagon report this week warned that Beijing was increasing its military capabilities Picture: AFP

A Pentagon report this week said Beijing was expanding its military advantage over Taiwan through measures like increasing the deadliness of its short-range ballistic missiles, while raising the risk of "misunderstanding and miscalculation".

Chinese Defence Ministry Spokesman Geng Yansheng said that the Pentagon's report gave an unreasonably sinister tinge to a normal military build-up, and exaggerated China's "so-called ... 'military threats'" towards Taiwan, the self-ruled island China considers its own, but which the US has vowed to defend in the event of attack.

"The US side's publication of this report is not beneficial to the improvement and development of Sino-US military ties," Mr Geng said in unusually strong language yesterday.

The Pentagon's annual report to Congress on China comes at a difficult time, as harsh words over the South China Sea have worsened already-strained military ties.

Admiral Robert Willard, head of the US Pacific Command, yesterday said the US military opposes the use of force by countries locked in a territorial dispute in the South China Sea and will maintain its presence in the strategic region for years to come.

China claims sovereignty over the entire South China Sea, which is strewn with disputed groups of islands, including the Spratly archipelago - also claimed in whole or in part by Vietnam, Taiwan, Malaysia, Brunei and the Philippines.

Adm Willard said Washington does not take sides in the disputes but added it will oppose any use "of force or forms of coercion to stake these claims on the part of any single nation at the expense of the others."

He said China's "assertive" behaviour in the South China Sea was on the agenda in annual defence talks in Manila this week with Philippine military officials. Senior US officials have recently held similar discussions with Vietnam.

"We discussed the assertiveness we're experiencing by the Chinese in the South China Sea and the concerns that has generated within the region," he said.

He added that US forces will continue with their presence in the region for years to come to keep its sea lanes and air space safe for the huge traffic of commercial cargo.

The Spratlys are a group of islands, reefs and atolls with rich fishing grounds. The area is believed to have large oil and natural gas reserves and straddles busy sea lanes that are a crucial conduit for oil and other resources fuelling China's fast-expanding economy and those of other Asian nations.

The conflicting claims have occasionally erupted into armed confrontation, although China and the other claimants have sought to resolve differences peacefully and pledged not to take any steps that could lead to clashes under a 2002 code of conduct.

Chinese forces seized the western Paracel Islands from Vietnam in 1974 and sank three Vietnamese naval vessels in a 1988 sea battle.

The recent patrol and exercises close to China by the nuclear powered aircraft carrier, the USS George Washington, along with its accompanying powerful escort fleet, raised anger among some People's Liberation Army generals.

The presence of the giant vessel, which was involved in joint exercises with the South Korean military, was designed to deter further aggression by North Korea following the sinking of a South Korean naval vessel by Pyongyang's forces.

However, the vessel passed "perilously close" to China's maritime boundary, according to state media.