Beijing has said that it’s “resolutely opposed” to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s (NATO) desire to Expand into the Asia-Pacific region, according to a statement by the Chinese Embassy in the European Union (EU) on Tuesday.
The embassy statement, released in response to the NATO joint communique at the leaders’ summit in Vilnius, underscored that Beijing would “firmly safeguard its sovereignty, security and development interests”.
"China-related content in the communique disregards basic facts, wantonly distorts China's position and policies, and deliberately discredits China," a spokesperson for the Chinese mission said.
The embassy noted that NATO was a regional military alliance born out of the Cold War and accused it of interfering in extraterritorial affairs and creating confrontation.
It called upon NATO to "listen to the international community's just call for peace, development and cooperation” and play a “constructive” role in global peace and stability.
NATO Calls China a ‘Challenge’
The joint statement by the 31-nation Euro-Atlantic grouping labelled China allegedly as a “challenge” to its "interests, security and values”.
“The People’s Republic of China (PRC) employs a broad range of political, economic, and military tools to increase its global footprint and project power, while remaining opaque about its strategy, intentions and military build-up,” the statement said.
The military alliance also noticed that the Indo-Pacific was important for NATO and that the developments in that region can “directly affect Euro-Atlantic security”.
The joint statement also criticized the “deepening strategic partnership” between China and Russia, arguing that it ran “counter to our values and interests”.