China denounces US Pacific military buildup

China's defense ministry made a less-than-subtle dig at recent US efforts to ramp up its military presence in the Pacific region, claiming that the expansion was "not conducive toward maintaining regional peace and stability" — a day after John Kerry defended the US military strategy at the end of his Asia trip.

Reuters wrote that the 40-page-document did not name the US but made it clear which country it was referring to, writing that China faces "multiple and complicated security threats," and that US military strategy would result in "profound changes" for the area.

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China claimed the US "Asia Pivot" to the Pacific "frequently made the situation tenser," referring in part to the continued aggressive posturing of Chinese ally North Korea, wrote the Associated Press.

"Hostile Western forces have intensified their strategy to westernize and split China, and employed every possible means to contain and control our country's development," the document added, according to Reuters.

"Certain efforts made to highlight the military agenda, enhance military deployment and also strengthen alliances are not in line with the calling of the times and are not conducive to the upholding of peace and stability in the region," a defense ministry spokesman Yang Yujun told reporters on Tuesday in time with the release of the report, added the Associated Press. 

“We hope that the relevant parties would do more to enhance the mutual trust between countries in the region and contribute to peace and stability,” added Yang, according to the AP.

Also on Tuesday, Yang denied that China was engaged in a military buildup along the border with North Korea, claiming that foreign media reports to that effect "are not true," according to Xinhua.