Beijing to strengthen its naval forces
The People's Liberation Army released on Tuesday a new White Paper on military strategy, who's focus was on four main areas: maritime, outer space, cyberspace and nuclear weapons.
Chinese leaders said they were committed to an attitude of "active defense". "We will not attack unless we are attacked, but we will certainly respond if we are attacked," says the book, according to the official Xinhua news agency.
The document comes a week after a US P8-A maritime surveillance Poseidon aircraft was warned by Chinese naval officials to vacate the airspace above Mischief Reef, located in the disputed Spratly Islands of the South China Sea, were China is suspected of building artificial islands.
Read more: China, US trade verbal salvos in the South China Sea
A senior Chinese official said on Tuesday that the country's response was "professional" and suggested Washington is playing up the issue with ulterior motives.
"For a long time, the US military has been conducting close-in surveillance of China and the Chinese military has been making such necessary, legal and professional response -- why did this story suddenly pop up in the past weeks? Has the South China Sea shrunk?" Senior Col. Yang Yujun said at a press conference Tuesday.
"A certain country has increased the frequency of its close-in surveillance of China and that has caused a problem," he added.
Their purpose is to smear the Chinese military and dramatize regional tensions
"Some people have been intentionally and repeatedly hyping this topic. Their purpose is to smear the Chinese military and dramatize regional tensions. And I'm not ruling it out that this is being done to find an excuse for a certain country to take actions in the future. "
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