BEIJING: China lashed out on the North Atlantic Treaty Group’s (NATO) “smears and assaults” on Tuesday (Jul 9) after the defence alliance’s chief accused it of supporting Russia’s war in Ukraine on the eve of a summit in Washington.
United States President Joe Biden is internet hosting leaders of the 32-nation transatlantic alliance for 3 days from Tuesday, in addition to the leaders of Australia, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea.
NATO Secretary-Common Jens Stoltenberg informed a information convention forward of the seventy fifth anniversary summit that their inclusion “demonstrates that our safety isn’t regional, our safety is international”.
“And that is clearly demonstrated within the warfare in Ukraine the place Iran, North Korea, China are supporting and enabling Russia’s unlawful warfare of aggression towards Ukraine,” Stoltenberg mentioned on Monday, in keeping with a NATO transcript.
China’s overseas ministry took intention on the defence group, which was based in 1949 to supply collective safety towards the Soviet Union.
“NATO’s so-called safety is on the expense of different nations’ safety and its actions have introduced extraordinarily excessive safety dangers to the world and the area,” overseas ministry spokesman Lin Jian informed a daily information convention in Beijing.
“China is firmly against NATO’s smears and assaults on China, to its willingness to shift the blame onto others, in addition to NATO’s use of China as an excuse to maneuver eastward into the Asia-Pacific and fire up regional tensions,” he mentioned.
NATO’s leaders are gathering in Washington within the shadow of setbacks in Ukraine and electoral headwinds on each side of the Atlantic.
Biden is preventing for his political life after a disastrous debate towards his Republican presidential rival, NATO sceptic Donald Trump.
The star of the summit is about to be Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who’s in search of firm signs of support despite the fact that NATO is not going to be extending his nation an invite to hitch the bloc.