BEIJING, July 3. /TASS/. Washington is using the myth of China’s threat as an excuse to expand its armaments and maintain its hegemony, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Wang Wenbin said at a briefing on Monday.

"Some in the US have been misrepresenting facts and constantly hyping up the ‘China military threat’ narrative with evil intentions. They are in fact creating excuses for their efforts of arms expansion, maintaining military hegemony and sabotaging regional peace and stability, as well as finding ways to stoke tensions in the Taiwan Strait and use Taiwan to contain China," the diplomat said, commenting on recent remarks by US Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman, General Mark Milley, that the Chinese military will be "ready to invade Taiwan by 2027."

Wang also stressed that "China has always pursued a national defense policy that is defensive in nature and stays committed to peaceful development."

Speaking to an audience at the National Press Club in Washington on June 30, Milley said that there was still time to persuade Beijing not to use force to reunify Taiwan with mainland China.

Taiwan has been governed by its local administration since 1949 when the remaining Kuomintang forces led by Chiang Kai-shek (1887-1975) fled to the island after suffering a defeat in China’s civil war. Since then, Taiwan has preserved the flag and some other symbols of the Republic of China that had existed in mainland China before the Communists came to power. Beijing regards the island as one of its provinces and this position is supported by most countries, including Russia.