China dismissed a US report on its military expansion as “completely groundless”

China dismissed a US report on its military expansion as “completely groundless” and said it had exaggerated the threat to Taiwan, the island Beijing calls a breakaway province.

The US defense department said in its annual report to Congress that China was increasingly focused on naval power and had invested in hi-tech weaponry that would extend its reach in the Pacific and beyond.

The report, released on Wednesday, also renewed US warnings that China was extending its military edge over Taiwan, citing better artillery that could strike targets within or even across the Taiwan Strait.

China considers Taiwan, where the mainland’s defeated nationalists fled in 1949, to be a province awaiting reunification, by force if necessary.

The defense ministry’s comments come a day after China’s state news agency Xinhua said the Pentagon report amounted to US “interference” in affairs of the Asian nation.

The dispute over Taiwan, including US arms sales to Taipei, has remained a stumbling block to Washington’s attempts at promoting a security dialogue with the Chinese military.

However, Xinhua said relations between the US and Chinese militaries had improved over the past year.

China’s People’s Liberation Army — the largest armed force in the world — is extremely secretive about its defense programmes, which benefit from a huge and expanding military budget boosted by the nation’s runaway economic growth.

Beijing announced earlier this year that military spending would rise to 601.1 billion yuan ($91.7 billion) in 2011 and also said it was developing its first stealth fighter jet.

The weapons buildup comes as the Asian economic giant places a growing emphasis on securing strategic shipping lanes and mineral-rich areas in the South China Sea.

Beijing claims sovereign rights to almost all of the South China Sea, although several Southeast Asian countries have competing claims.

Source AFP