NATO’s communique highlights concerns about Beijing’s nuclear arsenal and space capabilities, with Jens Stoltenberg emphasizing its importance.
NATO leaders have described China as a “decisive enabler” of Russia’s war against Ukraine and expressed “deep concern” over its growing ties with Moscow. This marks the alliance’s most serious rebuke of Beijing to date.
The final communique, approved by the 32 NATO members at the summit in Washington, also raises concerns about Beijing’s nuclear arsenal and space capabilities.
“The message from this NATO summit is very strong and clear, defining China’s responsibility in enabling Russia’s war,” NATO secretary general Jens Stoltenberg said, calling the statement an important message.
NATO leaders have urged China “to cease all material and political support to Russia’s war effort,” noting that Beijing has become a significant supporter of Russia’s “defence industrial base.”
“This includes the transfer of dual-use materials, such as weapons components, equipment, and raw materials that serve as inputs for Russia’s defence sector,” the declaration stated.
Beijing maintains that it does not provide direct military aid to Russia but has kept strong trade ties with its neighbor throughout the conflict.
China’s foreign ministry expressed displeasure at NATO’s increasing interest in Asia and demanded the alliance stay out of the Asia-Pacific region and avoid inciting confrontation. Beijing’s mission to the EU criticized the summit for being “filled with cold war mentality and belligerent rhetoric.”
“The China-related paragraphs are provocative with obvious lies and smears,” the mission said in a statement.
The NATO statement came as leaders from Australia, Japan, New Zealand, and South Korea were set to attend summit talks on Thursday. It will be the third consecutive year that leaders from the four Asia-Pacific partners have met at the summit.
The final communique also accused China of conducting sustained, malicious cyber and hybrid activities, including disinformation. It also raised concerns about China’s rapid expansion and diversification of its nuclear arsenal with more warheads and a larger number of sophisticated delivery systems.
Danny Russel, the former US assistant secretary of state for Asia, called the new wording by NATO “an extraordinary step.”
“It marks how badly Beijing’s attempt to balance between Russia and western Europe has failed and how hollow its claim of neutrality sounds,” said Russel, who is vice-president for international security and diplomacy at the Asia Society Policy Institute. “China’s attempts at divide-and-conquer have instead produced remarkable solidarity between key nations of the Euro-Atlantic and the Asia-Pacific regions.”
This week, Chinese troops have been conducting joint military drills in Belarus, which neighbouring Poland says it is closely monitoring. China and Belarus are allies of Russia, while Poland is a NATO member and supporter of Kyiv.
“The defence ministry is well aware of the risk of the operations being used for disinformation and propaganda purposes,” Poland’s defence ministry told Agence France-Presse on Wednesday.
China has previously held joint drills with Belarus, though these are the first since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. The “Falcon Assault” drills started on Monday and are set to run until mid-July, with China’s defence ministry saying it hopes to deepen cooperation with Minsk.
