A U.S. Pentagon report raises concerns about what it calls “rapid expansion” of China’s military.

Hi, I’m Christina McAusland and you’re watching Newsy.com. That was video from India’s NDTV.

The most recent annual Pentagon report is called “Military Power of the People’s Republic of China.”

Let’s go to CNN, who gives us a summary of the report.

“The Pentagon report is blunt. China is accelerating the ability of its military to project its power and reach and also is ‘rapidly developing coercive capabilities to stop Taiwan’s bid for independence.’” (CNN)

FOX News suggests the United States has reason to be cautious, reminding us:

“All of this comes at a time when tensions between China and the U.S. have been rising. Since Chinese ships surrounded a US Navy surveillance boat off China’s coast earlier this month.” (FOX News)

Many global headlines paint a different picture:

MonstersandCritics.com headlines, “China slams ‘Cold War mentality’ of US military report.
RRT News says China is “Red-Faced At U.S. Military Report.”
Finally, the UK’s Telegraph says China is calling the report a “gross distortion of facts.”

Singapore’s Channel News Asia offers a prediction of China’s reaction:

“What Beijing is going to find very uncomfortable is Washington’s call for it to display more transparency, after all Beijing has said on many times on numerous occasions that its increased spending is purely for defensive purposes, adding that there are no hidden figures in its military spending.” (Channel News Asia)

NPR talked with a political scientist who suggests China won’t be able to rival the U.S. military for decades:

"They've had, for example, no combat experience whatsoever since 1979. You know, even if you take the very highest estimate of what China might be spending on its military, it's still — I think it's less than a quarter of ours." (NPR)

While the U.S. eyes China’s military expansion, it’s also monitoring North Korea’s long-range missile launch plans.

Do you think a growing Chinese military is a threat to the U.S. or anyone else? What, if any, are potential global threats coming from that region?