The Defense Ministry Thursday lambasted the US defense secretary for his "extremely irresponsible" words and criticized an intelligence report that listed China as one of the US' main challengers.

"The views and words of the US has not a scrap of truth in them and is extremely irresponsible," said Defense Ministry spokesman Hu Changming in a rare outburst in a press release sent to China Daily last night.

On Tuesday, a National Intelligence Strategy (NIS) report from Washington pointed out in its new intelligence guidelines that Beijing is a major challenger.

China's "increasing natural resource-focused diplomacy and military modernization are among the factors making it a complex global challenge," said the NIS document, which guides the US strategic analysis for the next four years.

Among the other "challengers" listed are Russia, Iran and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

US Intelligence director Dennis Blair said upon the release of the report that China is "very aggressive in the cyberworld," according to AFP.

The next day, US Defense Secretary Robert Gates said China's "investments in cyber and anti-satellite warfare, anti-air and anti-ship weaponry, and ballistic missiles could threaten America's primary way to project power and help allies in the Pacific."

Hu, in response, said China has consistently pursued a national defense policy that is defensive in nature and resolutely followed a path of peaceful development.

Su Hao, director of China Foreign Affairs University's Center for Asia-Pacific Studies, said the report and Gates' words reflected the continuous hostility toward China from the US military and intelligence circles, despite the steady political relations between the Obama administration and Beijing.

(China Daily September 18, 2009)