A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman refuted Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso's recent remarks on China's military development as "extremely irresponsible".

"As a foreign minister, to incite such groundless rhetoric about China is extremely irresponsible, what is the real purpose?" Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said at a press conference in Beijing Thursday.

Qin said that it is generally acknowledged that China insists on a path of peaceful development, stressing that China's development has made contributions to the world peace and stability, bringing East Asian countries, including Japan, great development opportunities.

Qin was responding to the remarks made by Japan's Foreign Minister Taro Aso as he called China a considerable threat due to the country's military development.

"It's a neighboring country with nuclear bombs, and its military expenditure has been on the rise for 17 years. It's beginning to pose a considerable threat," Japan's Kyodo News Agency quoted Aso as saying.

Source: Xinhua