China has expressed strong opposition to Japan's 2011 defense white paper, saying the document plays up the 'China threat theory' and has ulterior motives. Defense Ministry spokesman Geng Yansheng on Thursday said China adheres to the path of peaceful development and sticks to the policy of building friendship and partnership with neighboring countries. He said China is modernizing its national defense systems and armed forces only to safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity. The spokesman said China hopes the Japanese side will take into consideration the overall situation of China-Japan relations and make more efforts to build mutual trust with its neighbours and safeguard the region's peace andstability.