China's Defense Ministry said it acts in accordance with domestic and international law to safeguard its rights and interests and to provide what it called "international public security goods," in response to the Pentagon's report on Chinese military power released on December 23.
As part of its push to build "world-class" armed forces to challenge its top rival, the United States, the Chinese military is undergoing rapid modernization, along with an expansion of overseas outposts to support its fast-growing presence beyond the East Asian coastline and to project and sustain power at greater distances, the Pentagon said.
