China on Thursday expressed its opposition to a new report by the US Defense Department on China's military strength.

"We have lodged solemn representations to the US side," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang told a regular press conference when asked to comment on this annual report.

The report continued disseminating the "Chinese military threat" theory, severely distorted the facts and interfered in China's internal affairs, Qin said.

"China unswervingly sticks to a path of peaceful development and pursues a national defense policy which is purely defensive in nature," he said, noting that China is devoted to safeguarding world peace and stability.

"We urged the US side to respect this basic fact," he noted.

He said the United States should abandon the Cold War mentality and prejudice, stop issuing such reports on China's military, and stop its groundless censure against China, in an effort to avoid further damage for the relations between the two countries and the two militaries, Qin said.

Turning a blind eye to China's long-held peaceful defense policy and ever increasing military openness, the Pentagon on Wednesday released its annual report on the Chinese military to repeat its complaint about "limited transparency" and question the "purposes and objectives" of the People's Liberation Army (PLA).

(Xinhua News Agency March 26, 2009)