China has warned NATO against “provoking confrontation” over its ties with Russia, after the Western military alliance accused Beijing of being a “decisive facilitator” of Moscow’s war against Ukraine.
Thursday’s warning came as NATO leaders, meeting in Washington, D.C., pledged to bolster Ukraine and Europe’s defenses against Russia and made clear that China was also becoming a focus for the alliance. .
A spokesman for Beijing’s mission to the European Union said NATO should “stop hyping up the so-called China threat and provoking confrontation and rivalry, and do more to contribute to global peace and stability.”
China, which has deepened strategic ties with Russia, refused to condemn Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. It has presented itself as a neutral party in the war and claims it does not send lethal assistance to either side, unlike the US and other Western nations.
Beijing, however, has offered a critical lifeline to Russia’s isolated economy, with trade booming since the start of the conflict.
The 32 members of NATO, in their final statement on Wednesday, expressed “deep concern” about Beijing’s deepening partnership with Moscow. They stated that China “has become a decisive enabler of Russia’s war against Ukraine through its so-called ‘boundless’ partnership and its large-scale support for Russia’s defense industrial base.”
“This increases the threat that Russia poses to its neighbors and to Euro-Atlantic security,” they stated, urging China “to cease all material and political support for Russia’s war effort.” Beijing “cannot allow the biggest war in Europe in recent history without this having a negative impact on its interests and reputation,” they added.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told reporters that China provides equipment, microelectronics and tools that are enabling Russia “to build the missiles, to build the bombs, to build the aircraft, to build the weapons that they use to attack Ukraine.” .
He said it was the first time that all NATO allies had stated this so clearly in an agreed document.
Beijing’s spokesman dismissed the criticism, saying: “As we all know, China is not the creator of the crisis in Ukraine.”
“The NATO summit statement in Washington is full of Cold War mentality and belligerent rhetoric, and the content related to China is full of provocations, lies, incitement and defamation,” the official told journalists.
They added that China’s core position is to “promote peace talks and political solutions,” a reference to a 12-point peace plan issued by Beijing more than a year ago that sets out general principles for ending the war.
The plan received a lukewarm reception at the time in Russia and Ukraine.
NATO member countries, in this year’s declaration, also reiterated that China poses “systemic challenges” to Euro-Atlantic security, namely through carrying out continuous and malicious online and hybrid activities, such as disinformation campaigns.
They also expressed concerns about China’s space capabilities and activities and warned that Beijing is rapidly expanding and diversifying its nuclear arsenal with more warheads and a greater number of sophisticated launch systems.
Rachel Rizzo, nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s European Center, said NATO does not see China as a threat, but as a challenge.
NATO has made it clear that the “alliance discussing China is not about pushing the alliance into the Indo-Pacific region, but rather about responding to China’s political, economic and technological incursions on the roads to Europe, as well as the purchase of European infrastructures by China”. ,” Rizzo told Al Jazeera. “So it’s not about expanding NATO’s theaters of operations, it’s about responding to this kind of interconnected geographic theater that we now see around the world.”
The NATO summit included leaders and MPs from the alliance’s Asia-Pacific partners Australia, New Zealand, Japan and South Korea. Asian countries have forged stronger ties with NATO in recent years amid growing concerns about assertiveness of China in the South China Sea and the East China Sea.
In the final statement, NATO members affirmed the importance of Asia-Pacific partners to the alliance and said they were “strengthening dialogue to address interregional challenges.”
He stated that NATO and Asia-Pacific partners plan to launch four projects to support Ukraine, strengthen cooperation in cyber defense, combat disinformation and work on artificial intelligence.
NATO members stated that these projects would “increase our ability to work together on shared security interests”.
This story originally appeared on Aljazeera.com read the full story
