May 9 (Reuters) – China embarked upon extensive land reclamation efforts at five outposts in the disputed Spratly Islands last year, adding huge amounts of terrain to bolster its civil and military presence in an area claimed by rivals, a new Pentagon report said on Friday.

Chinese building and land-filling efforts have accelerated this year, with the total acreage added to the outposts in the South China Sea growing from 500 in December to about 2,000 today, a U.S. defence official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

But China’s defence ministry rebutted the Pentagon on Saturday, saying the report “seriously damaged mutual trust between the two nations”, and that “ignored facts” and “played up stereotypes about the ‘China military threat’”.

The Spratly chain, where China has built at least one previously submerged reef into an island, is claimed by at least three other countries: the Philippines, Taiwan and Malaysia.

Read more: http://in.reuters.com/article/2015/05/09/usa-defense-china-idINL1N0XZ20020150509