China Says U.S. ‘Hyping Up’ Its Military Threat, Damaging Trust

A U.S. report outlining China’s South China Sea land reclamation program is “hyping up” the military threat posed by the nation and undermines bilateral relations, China’s Foreign Ministry said.

China started to reclaim land in the South China Sea in 2014 in an effort to assert its territorial claims to more than 80 percent of the sea. Once completed the facilities could include harbors, surveillance systems and at least one airfield, the Pentagon said in its annual report on China’s military strategy. The effort has been accelerating in recent months, with 2,000 acres of reclaimed land currently, up from 500 at the end of December, a defense official said.