Agence France Presse

Taipei, July 21:

Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian today hailed a new US Pentagon report on China’s military build-up that Beijing protested as interference in its internal affairs. “China’s rise over the past more than 10 years is not peaceful. Their military expansion has not only threatened Taiwan but the region and the world,” Chen said. His remarks followed Tuesday’s annual report by the US Defence Department, which said China’s defence build-up could tip the military balance against Taiwan and pose a credible threat to others in the region. “The report unreasonably attacks the modernisation of Chinese national defence and rudely castigates China’s normal national defence constructions and military deployment,” China’s Vice Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said. “The report overlooks facts, endeavours to spread the ‘China threat theory’, rudely interferes with China’s internal affairs and foments discord between China and other countries.”