US monitors China's naval power in the Pacific

China's growing military assertiveness has alarmed its neighbors and prompted the U.S to keep a high profile on Asian waters.

Beijing has been pressing claims on disputed waters and seeking new weapons and warships.

Liang Guanglie, the country's defence minister, said on Wednesday that China's booming economy is driving its military might.

"In the next five years, our economy and society will develop faster, boosting comprehensive national power," Liang said, "We will take the opportunity and speed up modernisation of the military."

Liang said China's military would continue to advance its capability to fight and win high-tech wars, while also boosting its conventional arsenal.

He said the the 2.3-million-strong People's Liberation Army plans to do this all without foreign aid.

"We will stand on our own feet to solve the problem and develop our equipment," Liange said, "The modernisation of the Chinese military cannot depend on others, and cannot be bought."

China's increasing military expenditures has generated concern among its neighbours, but Chinese officials insist that they are only interested in peace and that its naval buildup is not a threat.

The US, however, sees Beijing as a potential threat to its once unrivalled dominance of the Pacific.

Liange has invited US Defence Secretary Robert Gates for talks in Beijing from January 9-12 amid a spike in tensions in Northeast Asia.

Gates' visit to China will come a year after Beijing ended military relations with Washington in protest against a

multi-billion-dollar US arms package for rival Taiwan.

The two nations have since resumed low-level military contacts at a technical level.

Al Jazeera's Steve Chao joined America's Seventh fleet aboard the The USS George Washington.

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