The 32 NATO member states last week expressed concerns over China’s increasing nuclear arsenal and the expansion of its space program and accused Beijing of enabling Moscow’s war in Ukraine by providing support to Russia.
In a final declaration released on July 10 during NATO’s 75th Anniversary Summit in Washington, the member countries and their partners in the Indo-Pacific expressed concern over Russia’s deepening ties with North Korea and China.
The 38-point declaration, which also included a separate section reaffirming NATO’s ongoing support for Ukraine, expressed concerns over China’s military assistance to Russia, which they said has increased the threat that Russia poses to its neighbors in Europe and the security of the entire European-Atlantic region.
The declaration said that China’s “no-limits partnership” with Russia, along with its support for Russia’s military, made it a “decisive enabler” in Moscow’s war in Ukraine.
The 32 countries urged China, as a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, to uphold the UN Charter’s “purposes and principles” and stop providing Russia “material and political support” in the Ukraine war.
NATO warned that if China continued to enable the largest European conflict in recent history, it would have a “negative impact” on Beijing’s reputation and interests.
China, which has long denied the accusations that it was providing military assistance to Russia, blasted the declaration and accused the alliance of seeking confrontation in the Indo-Pacific.
In a statement responding to the NATO declaration, Liu Pengyu, a spokesman for the Chinese Embassy in Washington said that China was not supporting either side in the war and insisted that Beijing’s trade relations with Russia were “beyond reproach.”
Liu said it was “futile” for NATO to smear China as a threat to security in Europe and accused the alliance of exploiting the war in Ukraine to start a new Cold War.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian said NATO was overstating Beijing’s involvement in the war, which he described as “sinister.” He said China has maintained a fair and objective position on the war in Ukraine.