China slams US defence secretary’s article on Chinese army

BEIJING: A Chinese military spokesperson has slammed as unfounded a recent article by US Defence Secretary Mark Esper against the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA).

The article was full of Cold War mentality and ideological bias, groundlessly misrepresented the PLA, and hyped up the so-called “Chinese military threat,” Ren Guoqiang, spokesperson for China’s Ministry of National Defense, said on Sunday.

Published in late August, the article titled “The Pentagon Is Prepared for China” claimed that the PLA “is not a military that serves the nation,” but belongs to and serves the Communist Party of China (CPC).

Voicing firm opposition to the article, Ren said facts have proved that any attempt to sever the close ties between the Chinese military and the people is doomed to fail.