"As a foreign minister, to so irresponsibly incite such groundless rhetoric about a China threat, what is the purpose?" foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang said at a regular briefing.

Qin insisted China's increasing economic might was no threat to anyone and had actually benefitted Japan.

"China insists on a path of peaceful development. China's development has made commonly-acknowledged contributions towards the world's peace and stability, bringing East Asian countries, including Japan, great development opportunities," he said.

Qin was responding to remarks made by Japan's Foreign Minister Taro Aso as quoted by Jiji Press earlier Thursday.

"It is a neighboring country that has nuclear bombs. Its military spending is posting two-digit growth and the content of that is not transparent," Aso said in the latest rift between the neighbors.

"I think it is becoming a considerable threat," he said.

The latest spat comes just two months after Aso, an outspoken hawk, was appointed in late October.

Relations between China and Japan have been badly strained of late, with Beijing angry over Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's visits to a Tokyo shrine that commemorates war criminals among the remembered dead.

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