Pentagon File photo:VCG

Pentagon chief Mark Esper on Wednesday continued to hype the "China threat" and vowed to build more new ships despite acknowledging that the Chinese navy is no match for the US. 

Chinese experts said the US' ambition to maintain absolute military superiority in every part of the world will be a burden too heavy to bear in the long run,  adding that China never wishes to pursue global hegemony like the US, but to meet the country's national defense needs.

Esper said Wednesday that while China has more ships, it'll be a while before it can match the power of the US Navy. However, Esper continued to say the US Defense Department will increase funding for new ships to "retain its overmatch" with China. 

Esper regards China as a "revisionist power," which has been using various means, including military force, to balance world power in its favor "at the expense of others." He added that the Indo-Pacific region has become the US' priority area in the fight for maritime superiority against Chinese military.,

Analysts pointed out the irony where Esper is clearly aware that the US is far superior militarily, but continues to pursue a greater military buildup, fearing that US power to intimidate other countries will be diminished. 

"Unlike the US, China's military development is not to pursue hegemony, but to meet national defense needs," Zhang Junshe, a senior research fellow at the PLA Naval Military Studies Research Institute, told the Global Times on Thursday.

The US Defense Department provided Congress with a China military power report earlier this month, saying that China will develop a world-class military by the end of 2049, which will be equivalent or even superior to the US military. 

The report also said that China has the world's largest navy, with an overall battle force of about 350 ships and submarines. 

The US has a clear military advantage over China, especially in the air force and navy, said Chinese military experts. For instance, the US has 11 nuclear-powered aircraft carriers, but China only has two with conventional power, and the US has hundreds of fifth-generation fighter jets, and China only has a few J-20s serving and have no stealth strategic bombers like the B-2.

The US also has military bases and ports across the world, which allows Washington to maintain a global military presence, and China only has an advantage in the Western Pacific and regions bordering the Chinese territory, which is completely incomparable with US military influence, analysts said.    

"It's an old US trick to exaggerate competition between major powers of the world" to justify an increase in military spending to reinforce its global hegemony, Zhang noted.

Funds to build ships will rise to 13 percent of the Navy's budget, up from 11 percent, Esper said during an event hosted by the RAND Corporation on Wednesday, declaring his determination to boost the budget by billions of dollars a year to maintain US maritime superiority, Sputnik News reported.