THE Pentagon’s latest report on China’s military and security developments reflects an incongruous stance and faulty policy.
It is a combination of misinterpretations and misconceptions about China’s military power over the past few years. The report continues to label China as a challenge and adversary by exaggerating its historic military buildup and fueling anxieties about the increasingly vulnerable US homeland. Additionally, it presents a purposeful duality, emphasizing that under President Trump’s leadership, relations between the US and China are stronger than they have been in many years, promising to open a wider range of military-to-military communications with the PLA, providing a window into understanding the complex realities of current US–China relations. Thus, the Pentagon’s new report is another effort at hyping the “Chinese military threat” theory, which has become an annual routine.
It is the first report under Trump’s administration; however, it still maintains previous double standards, intentionally insisting on US military intervention in the Asia-Pacific region and portraying China’s military development as a threat to Americans’ security, which has no empirical evidence. Obviously, China has a peaceful defense capability, which is a legitimate measure to safeguard the security of over 1.4 billion people and every inch of its territorial sovereignty.
Comparative studies and critical analysis confirm that China’s military expenditure has remained below 1.5 percent of its GDP for many years, which is lower than the world average, vividly reflecting its peaceful defense doctrine and negating the notions of Cold War mentality and hegemonic syndrome. The latest report once again highlights the failure of US policymakers to properly understand China and its peaceful defense policy, because China’s purpose of building necessary defense capabilities has been transparent and consistent, which is to resolutely safeguard its legitimate rights and interests and preserve peace.
Interestingly, despite having a long land boundary and vast maritime territory, China’s defense policy is defensive in nature. Moreover, strengthening national defense and military modernization seems to be a necessity in addressing complex security challenges and fulfilling its international responsibility. China’s consistent stance of not seeking hegemony, expansion or spheres of influence clearly demonstrates its peaceful posturing and signaling. Evidently, the development of the Chinese military is designed to meet the basic requirements of winning a defensive war and deterring conflict. So, its military’s peaceful growth equates to the country’s comprehensive national power and its security obligations and international responsibilities. Certainly, it is not aimed at “benchmarking” against a certain major power.
The Pentagon report acknowledges the current US president’s emphasis on stabilizing China–US relations, a positive signal that merits attention as it steers bilateral ties toward meaningful coordination, cooperation and stability while avoiding confrontational conflict, which would serve the interests of both peoples and the international community at large. Moreover, China’s role as the second-largest contributor to the UN peacekeeping budget, its cumulative deployment of over 50,000 peacekeepers and maintenance of the most comprehensive range and largest number of standby forces demonstrate its international responsibility through escort operations in the Gulf of Aden, emergency assistance deliveries by Y-20 aircraft and medical services provided by the Peace Ark hospital ship. In addition, China’s active participation in global security governance, advocacy of common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security and commitment to dialogue underscore that its military capabilities are designed to provide global public security goods rather than pose the threat portrayed, making mutual understanding and the joint shaping of a constructive, mutually beneficial and win-win China–US relationship essential. China has consistently honored its commitment to peace and has never sought to build its own security at the expense of others. The world’s peace and prosperity cannot be achieved without common development and mutual reinforcement between China and the US. The Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Guo Jiakun, has rightly shown strong dissatisfaction and firm opposition to the most recently announced US defense bill, pointing out that the US Fiscal Year 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) hypes up the so-called China threat, interferes in China’s internal affairs and undermines China’s sovereignty, security and development interests.
His suggestion that the US should work with China in the same direction and jointly implement the important common understandings reached by the heads of state of the two countries during their meeting in Busan, South Korea, is the right way forward. The Chinese government white paper entitled “China’s Arms Control, Disarmament and Non-Proliferation in the New Era”, with a full overview of China’s nuclear policy and position on nuclear disarmament, upholds its commitment to the no-first-use of nuclear weapons and a nuclear strategy that focuses on self-defense.
In summary, the Pentagon’s latest security policy is generally biased and not based on true facts, spreading mere planted fears, frictions and self-justifying its intentional involvement in the Asia-Pacific region. Its projection of China as a threat and the ongoing economic and trade talks between China and US delegations are self-contradictory and not helpful in achieving the desired goals of cooperation and competition.
On the other hand, China’s defense modernization is defensive and peace-oriented, which has nothing to do with any hegemony, expansion, aggression or onslaught against anybody in the region or beyond. Thus, peace has its own dynamics and propaganda has its own devils. Last but not least, its nuclear policy is not against any country because of its active participation in the review process of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and meetings of the P5 mechanism and it maintains dialogue with various parties on nuclear disarmament, negating all false, fake and fabricated Western propaganda.
—The writer is President, the Centre for Knowledge and Public Policy, Regional Expert: China, CPEC, BRI & World Affairs.
