China on Thursday slammed reports from the United States and Britain voicing concern over its military build up and soaring budget, but at the same time unveiled a plan to upgrade its weaponry over the next 15 years.
China had a right to protect its territory and was open and transparent about its military spending, said Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao.
"China is an enormous country with a large border and we have the important task of maintaining territorial integrity and national unity," Liu told a regular news conference.
"So it is proper for China to raise military spending and totally normal to push modernisation of national defences."
Washington has been raising alarms over Beijing's defence modernisation for several years. Tuesday's annual Pentagon report on China's military power said it had yet to adequately explain the purposes of its military expansion.
On Wednesday, the Foreign Ministry had denounced the Pentagon report, saying it exaggerated the country's defence capabilities and showed a "cold war mentality".
A statement by ministry spokesman Liu said the Pentagon report spread the "China threat theory" and endangered international relations.
"The (report) has a 'cold war mentality', deliberately overstates China's military power and expenditure, continues to spread the 'China threat theory' endangers international relations and brashly interferes in China's domestic affairs," the statement said.
But China's official Xinhua news agency announced on Thursday the development of new technology that would have both military and civilian use, leading to new, more advanced weapons.
"The outline stresses that the country will develop high and new tech weaponry to reinforce a mechanised and information-based army," it said, without providing details.
In another report this week, the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) said that China's military spending may be about 1.7 times higher than officially stated and would continue to rise sharply.
It estimated Chinese military-related expenditure for 2003 at $39.6 billion -- based on market exchange rates -- compared to the $23 billion officially stated.
Yet Liu said China was open about how much it spends on arms.
"China cannot accept criticism that its military budget is not transparent," he said. "Some people say that China's military budget is not accurate, but I don't know what evidence they have for this."
Military spending has risen by double-digit percentages for the last few years.
But Beijing insists that its military poses no threat and that it spends less on defence as a share of its economy than many Western countries including the United States.
Chinese defence spending was 2.7 percent of gross domestic product in 2003, while the U.S. figure was 3.7 percent, the IISS said.
Liu denied the Pentagon report's assertions that China's military modernisation altered power balances in the Asia-Pacific region, saying China was a peace-loving nation that adhered to a path of peaceful development.
The Pentagon also said China was adding about 100 short-range missiles a year for deployment opposite Taiwan, shifting the balance of power between the two towards the mainland.
Liu said China would never tolerate independence for Taiwan, the self-ruled island over which it claims sovereignty, but added that it stuck to the principle of peaceful reunification.
