BEIJING: China has lashed out at NATO’s smears and attacks on Tuesday after the alliance’s chief blamed it for supporting Russia’s war in Ukraine ahead of a summit in Washington.
US President Joe Biden is hosting leaders of the 32-nation alliance for three days from Tuesday, as well as the leaders of Australia, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea.
Secretary-General of NATO Jens Stoltenberg at a news conference ahead of the 75th anniversary summit said the event demonstrates that their security is not regional but global.
He said North Korea and China are supporting and enabling Russia’s illegal war of aggression against Ukraine. NATO was established in 1949 to provide collective security against the Soviet Union.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian told a regular news conference in Beijing said NATO’s so-called security is at the expense of the security of other countries’ and its actions have brought extremely high security risks to the region and world.
“China is firmly opposed to NATO’s smears and attacks on China, to its willingness to shift the blame onto others, as well as NATO’s use of China as an excuse to move eastward into the Asia-Pacific and stir up regional tensions,” he said.
NATO’s leaders are gathering in Washington when Biden is fighting for his political life after a disastrous debate against his Republican presidential rival, Donald Trump.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will be the star of the event and is looking for signs of support even though NATO will not be extending his country an invitation to join the bloc.
