The biggest enemy of the United States is itself, said Zhang Xiaogang, spokesman for the Ministry of National Defense, at a press conference in Beijing on Thursday.
Zhang made the remarks in response to a media query about the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2025 of the United States, which, by President Joe Biden into law, raises the country's military spending to 895.2 billion from the previous 842 billion U.S. dollars and takes China as one of its major national security threats.
"The related act of the United States hypes up the so-called 'military threat from China,' which is just to find pretexts to raise the U.S. military spending and maintain its hegemony. It blatantly interferes in China's internal affairs and threatens global peace. We strongly deplore and firmly oppose this. China never has the intention to challenge anyone, and the biggest enemy of the United States is itself," said Zhang.
"The U.S. has topped the world in its military spending, and it still increases its military input year by year. This has fully exposed its war-addicted, expansionist and hegemonic nature. The U.S. is behind many wars and conflicts around the world today. The wars and the military operations initiated by the U.S. since 2001 have caused hundreds of thousands of deaths, millions of injuries, and the displacement of tens of millions of civilians. The U.S. indulgence in wars with all its armed might has not only devastated the world and but also backfired on itself at a quickening pace," said Zhang.
"The world is big enough to accommodate the respective and common development of China and the U.S. China has always adhered to peaceful development and upheld a defense policy that is defensive in nature, never engaged in arms race with any country and always persevering in being a defender of world peace. We advise the U.S. side to abandon the Cold War and zero-sum mentality and do away with its obsessions and delusion of winning the competition with China by containment or suppression, lest it disrupts or jeopardizes the relations between the two countries and the two armies. With greater capacity and more reliable means, China's armed forces will resolutely counteract any infringements and provocations and safeguard national sovereignty, security and development interests," said Zhang.
Defense Ministry spokesman on US military budget
