Beijing on Tuesday criticized new U.S. controls on exports to China of technology with possible military uses, rejecting them as a threat to cooperative relations and efforts to shrink the swollen Chinese trade surplus.

Beijing has issued a strong protest to the U.S. following the publication of an annual report on China's military power, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said Monday.

The top U.S. general today said China sent a "confusing" message with its antisatellite-missile test in January, and called on Beijing to be more open about its military plans.