ANKARA

China on Tuesday rejected the "false accusation" of a “China threat” made by the defense chiefs of the US, Japan, Australia and the Philippines at last week’s Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore.

"The US, together with Japan, Australia and the Philippines, brazenly spread the false accusation of a ‘China threat’ at the Shangri-La Dialogue and sought to use the East China Sea issue and the South China Sea issue to sow discord and incite confrontation between regional countries," Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian told reporters in Beijing. "China strongly deplores and firmly opposes it, and has made serious protests."

The defense chiefs of Australia, Japan, the Philippines and the US met on the sidelines of the key annual security and defense forum on Saturday.

They expressed in a statement their "continued serious concern about China’s destabilizing actions in the East China Sea and the South China Sea and any unilateral attempts to change the status quo by force or coercion."

Lin responded by saying that "bloc politics and confrontation are products of the Cold War mentality. They are incompatible with the trend of the times and not welcomed by regional countries."

He added that bloc politics and confrontation will not solve any problems and will intimidate China even less.

"We will not flinch in defending China’s territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests," he said.

China urged the US and its allies to stop "smears and vilification, stop distorting facts and shifting blame on maritime issues, stop patching together exclusive mini-groups, and stop disrupting the efforts of relevant parties to resolve the issues through dialogue and consultation to defend regional peace and stability."

In a related development, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhang Xiaogang criticized Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth's speech at the Shangri-La summit, where he warned the world of an "imminent China threat."

Zhang said the US is "accustomed to using the Shangri-La Dialogue to create disputes, incite confrontation and seek its own interests."

Chinese Defense Minister Dong Jun skipped the forum where Hegseth accused Beijing of "credibly preparing” to use military force to upend the balance of power in Asia.

*Writing by Aamir Latif