China's promise on its "peaceful rise" may seem fragile to many. Some Western officials and analysts even claimed that China has already started seeking military dominance in some disputed areas.

But can we really call China's current military activities a threat? We at CGTN created a short video to show you some facts in numbers.

John Chipman, Director-General of the International Institute for Strategic Studies, London, said "China's official defense budget is 1.8 times higher than the combined budgets of South Korea and Japan, and 3.7 times higher than [those of] other states surrounding the South China Sea put together."

But you have to take more data into consideration, given that China is already the world's second largest economy.

Fu Ying, chairperson of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the National People's Congress of China, said "The defense ministers and prime ministers are all talking about how important it is for NATO members to increase their defense budget to two percent, but when talking about Asia, you sound like Asia is spending too much? China's national defense budget has been keeping at 1.5 percent of its GDP all these years, but is still played up as a threat. I hope the standard is more unified so that we could see each other through the same light."

John Kerry, former US Secretary of State, said, "There is every evidence, every day, that there has been an increase of militarization of one kind or another. It is of serious concern."

Wang Yi, China's Minister of Foreign Affairs, said, "China is neither the first country that deployed weapons on the Nansha Islands nor one that has deployed the most weapons, not even the country that has conducted the most frequent military activities. I think China cannot be accused of militarization. The label is more suited to some other countries."

In the past 40 years, no Chinese soldier has been deployed in another country's territory for military aggression. However, the United States has participated in numerous wars such as the invasion of Grenada in 1983, the invasion of Panama in 1989-90 to establish a pro-American government there, the two Persian Gulf Wars, and the wars in Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and Syria.

Fu Ying said, "We do not control any country. We've never controlled any country. We do not want to be controlled."

Chinese President Xi Jinping has made the most authoritative statement on China's foreign policy. He said, "No matter how much stronger it may become, China will never seek hegemony or expansion. It will never inflict its past suffering on any other nation."

Ahead of Xi's meeting with US President Donald Trump, there is a high chance that he will reiterate China's stance.‍