China is developing the ability to limit or prevent the use of satellites by potential adversaries during times of crisis, the Pentagon said yesterday in a report to Congress.

The report, the latest in a series of annual assessments of China’s military power, said Beijing views its efforts in space warfare as not only a practical advance of military power but also a boost to national prestige.

In space and other aspects of China’s military modernization, the Pentagon stuck to its oft-repeated view that China’s first priority is to build a broad-based capability to prevent Taiwanese independence. It said China’s focus on space warfare is an important part of that Taiwan strategy. “China further views the development of space and counterspace capabilities as bolstering national prestige and, like nuclear weapons, demonstrating the attributes of a world power,” the report said.

China typically objects to the Pentagon’s depiction of its military programs and policies. The Chinese Embassy in Washington did not immediately return a message seeking comment on yesterday’s report.

At a Pentagon news conference, the deputy assistant secretary of defense for East Asia, David Sedney, predicted the Chinese would protest this year that the report is “anti-China” and misleading. Mr. Sedney said that for the first time, American and Chinese officials will meet to discuss the report; he said it was being briefed yesterday to China’s senior military representative in Washington.

In addition, the European Union and America told the World Trade Organization that China places unreasonable limits on foreign financial news providers in their second joint complaint against the Asian nation, according to Bloomberg News.