Beijing woos Russia as it blasts U.S.

China is building up its military

(CNN) -- Beijing is playing the Russian card even as it has blasted Washington for spreading the "China Threat" theory about the country's aggressive military policies.

Chinese President Jiang Zemin and Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin celebrated with fanfare the first anniversary of the Sino-Russian Good-Neighborly Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation.

The Chinese courting of Russia came just days after Beijing dismissed a Pentagon report raising alarms about the "threat" poised by the country's military modernization. (Pentagon warns of China threat)

In his message to Putin, which was played up by the state media on Wednesday, Jiang boasted of marked progress them, as well as the need to move towards a global order not led by America.

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"China-Russia strategic cooperation has become a positive factor stimulating the multi-polarity of the world," Jiang said.

"Multi-polarity," as distinguished from "unilateralism," is a code word denoting a world order not dominated by the U.S.

Russian influence

On Tuesday, Defense Minister Chi Haotian also stressed the imperative of close bilateral links when meeting the visiting Secretary of the Russian Security Council Vladimir Rushailo.

Xinhua news agency quoted Chi as saying the two countries should "develop a stable, long-term strategic partnership of operation."

It was not known whether Chi and Rushailo talked more about the Chinese purchase of Russian arms.

However, diplomatic sources in Beijing and Moscow said the People's Liberation Army (PLA) is intent on buying more sophisticated hardware such as Su-30 jet fighters, AA-12 air-to-air missiles and Kilo-class submarines.

In its recent report, the Pentagon said that Russian-supplied arms to China was key in shifting the military balance between mainland China and Taiwan.

China regards Taiwan as a renegade province, to be reunified with the mainland, by force if necessary.

'Evil motives'

Meanwhile, in his regular briefing on Tuesday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Kong Quan blasted both the Pentagon Report and the annual report presented to the U.S. Congress on Monday by the U.S.-China Security Review Commission.

The report said China's economic and military growth would pose a national-security threat to the United States, and it recommended a rolling back of bilateral cooperation particularly in the areas of trade and high technology.

Kong said the report had "very evil motives" because it reflected a "cold-war mentality."

He added the report "groundlessly played up the myth of a 'China threat' and proposed an irresponsible trade and technology blockade against China."

The Chinese -run Hong Kong daily, Wen Wei Po reported on Wednesday that it was no coincidence that the two reports had come out shortly before the 16th Chinese Communist Party Congress slated for September.

It quoted experts in Beijing as saying it was possible Washington wanted to put pressure on the CCP administration in this sensitive juncture.