China's South China Morning Post reported on Sunday that the United States was trying to implement its expansionist plans around the world by promoting the "Chinese threat" theory.

Chinese military experts believe Washington has expansionary plans based on increasing the number of U.S. fleet vessels to 500 by 2045, and are trying to justify this with the U.S. Navy's challenge of growing Chinese fleet capacity.

Chinese experts pointed to the US fleet facing financial difficulties and that China should not be used to justify Washington's plan to build more warships in the future.

The United States is attempting to show China as a current and future challenge to its maritime power, which is part of its strategy based on the so-called "integrated deterrence", which, according to the newspaper, is a major focus for imposing its maritime dominance around the world.

The paper noted Chinese experts saying that although the United States promoted the theory of the "Chinese threat", the Chinese Navy was still behind the United States fleet with regard to ship size or military technology.

They stressed that the size of China's fleet should not be used to justify the expansion plans of the US fleet, which plans to have 373 manned vessels and some 150 robotic vessels by 2045.

US Global FirePort 2022 statistics on the number of naval units owned by States indicate that China has the largest number of warships in the world with 777 units and ranks first, followed by Russia with 605 units, and the United States of America third with 484 naval units.