China’s response to NATO accusations of supporting the war in Ukraine

China has accused NATO of defamation and demanded the trans-Atlantic alliance stay out of Asia, while its military has increased its influence with a record number of air operations near Taiwan and naval exercises near the Philippines.

Beijing lashed out at NATO on Thursday after the alliance said China had become a “decisive enabler” of Russia’s war on Ukraine. NATO’s 32 leaders demanded that China “cease all material and political support for Russia’s war effort” in a strong condemnation delivered Wednesday at their annual summit in Washington.

In a joint statement, NATO said that Beijing’s “large-scale support for Russia’s defense industrial base… increases the threat Russia poses to its neighbors and to Euro-Atlantic security.” Beijing responded to the accusations as “provocative, with obvious lies and smears” and said it had filed representations with NATO on the matter.

China’s mission to the EU said Beijing seeks a political settlement to the war in Ukraine and has never supplied lethal weapons to any party to the conflict, adding that its “normal trade flows” with Russia should not be interrupted or coerced.

Beijing has warned NATO to stay out of Asia, describing the region as “a place for peaceful development, not a battleground for geopolitical competition.” The Chinese statement stressed that NATO should “remain in its role as a regional defensive organization in the North Atlantic” and not become a destabilizer of peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific or a tool of hegemony for certain major powers.

The heated rhetoric comes as Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand join NATO summits, a practice that began after Russia’s massive attack on Ukraine in 2022. In response to the growing regional power of China’s People’s Liberation Army, U.S. allies in Asia, including Japan and the Philippines, have stepped up joint planning, exercises and weapons deployments. NATO members such as Britain, France, Canada and Germany have also increased their military operations and security cooperation in the region.

Beijing has hit back, with senior Chinese military officials denouncing U.S. efforts to strengthen ties with its allies in the region as a plot to create an “Asian NATO.” As Beijing railed against NATO on Wednesday, Taiwan recorded the largest Chinese incursion into its air defense identification zone, a buffer zone set by Taipei to allow early warning of hostile jets.

Taiwan’s Defense Ministry said 66 Chinese military aircraft operated around the island in the 24 hours to 6 a.m. Wednesday, with 56 of those aircraft entering the Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ). The activity is part of air and naval exercises at the height of the PLA’s summer exercise season. On Tuesday, Taiwan’s defense ministry reported that a PLA aircraft carrier passed through the Balintang Channel between two of the Philippines’ northernmost islands on its way to the Pacific Ocean.

The PLA drills have been ongoing since early July and have included air and naval maneuvers in the East China Sea north of Taiwan, the South China Sea and the Philippine Sea east of Luzon.

At the same time, the US is hosting Rimpac, the world’s largest naval exercise, which is taking place near Hawaii and includes nearly 30 countries, but not China.

Via News Agencies