Senior Colonel Wu Qian, Director General of the Information Office of China’s Ministry of Nation Defense (MND) and Spokesperson for the MND, answers reporter’s questions at a monthly press conference on January 25, 2018. (mod.gov.cn/Li Aiming)

China’s military authorities on Thursday scoffed the parlance of “Chinese military threat” after a U.S. think tank ranked the country as the biggest risk for the world in 2018, noting that “such sick mentality needs to be adjusted.”

“I noticed that there are some individuals and forces who are always reluctant to accept the development of China and its military. They jump out once in a while to play up so-called China military threat. No matter what they are trying to do, their effort is doomed to fail,” said Senior Colonel Wu Qian, who is also the spokesperson for China’s Ministry of National Defense (MND), at MND’s press conference on Thursday.

Wu’s remarks are the latest response to Western countries’ hyping up of the “China military threat.” According to Top Risk Report 2018 released by U.S. consultation company Eurasia Group in January, even terrorism and wars have lost the top spot to China on the list of world threats, as the country has been criticized for filling a power vacuum that was created by the U.S. due to the latter’s isolationism.

Denouncing the groundless accusation, Wu also cited an international rescue mission conducted by the Chinese military in December 2017, adding that three foreign travelers, who are from Switzerland, France, and Poland, respectively, were rescued from their grounded boat by Chinese military forces in the Nansha Islands.

“The rescue mission is very professional. The Chinese military helped us mending our boat, as well as saving our lives. The kind moves have shown their dedication and care for all people,” Michael Hoorn, the rescued Swiss traveler, was quoted as saying by Chinese Central Television.

“Frankly speaking, the development of China is a fact that cannot be denied, while the growth of China is the growth of peaceful forces in the world,” Wu noted.

This is not the first time that the "China military threat" has been hyped. According to unclassified pages of the 2018 US National Defense Strategy published in January, China is described as a strategic competitor “using predatory economics to intimidate its neighbors while militarizing features in the South China Sea.”