China has fiercely rejected accusations from Nato of being a “decisive enabler” of Russia’s Ukraine war and accused the transatlantic alliance of seeking security at the expense of others. A statement from the Foreign Ministry told NATO to not bring the same “chaos” to Asia following the strongly worded Washington Declaration calling on Beijing to stop aiding Moscow’s war effort.
“NATO agitating about China’s responsibility on the Ukraine issue is unreasonable and has sinister motives,” spokesperson Lin Jian said at a daily briefing on Thursday, maintaining that China has a fair and objective stance on the Ukraine issue. “China urges NATO to … stop interfering in China’s internal politics and smearing China’s image and not create chaos in the Asia-Pacific after creating turmoil in Europe,” he said.
Allies of NATO, who are currently in Washington to celebrate the alliance’s 75th anniversary, made their sharpest rebuke of China by expressing concerns over its deepening ties with Russia, calling Beijing a “decisive enabler” of Moscow’s war in Ukraine. The final communique made it clear that China was becoming a focus of the military alliance due to its rising nuclear arsenal and its capabilities in space.
Beijing has denied that it supports Russia’s war efforts and insists that it conducts normal trade with its northern neighbour.
However, relations between Moscow and Beijing are at their highest, as China has strengthened its trade and military ties with Russia in recent years, supplying machine tools, electronics and other items seen as contributing to the Russian war effort, without actually exporting weaponry. China has also backed Russia’s contention that NATO expansion posed a threat to Russia.
