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China calls Nato a ‘belligerent’ liar over Russia claims
Western alliance warned after it accuses Beijing of being ‘decisive enabler’ of Moscow’s war in Ukraine
![President Joe Biden delivers remarks in Washington on the 75th anniversary of Nato](/https/www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/world-news/2024/07/11/TELEMMGLPICT000385026127_17206887234250_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqLFvFcbCCSSPOPEZoCZQZEv4Xpit_DMGvdp2n7FDd82k.jpeg?imwidth=680)
China has called Nato a belligerent liar as it lashed out at the “Cold War” claims that it was supporting Russia’s military.
Beijing warned Nato against “provoking confrontation” after the Western security alliance accused China of being a “decisive enabler” of Moscow’s war against Ukraine.
Nato’s first-of-its-kind warning to China urged the world’s second-largest economy, as a permanent member of the UN Security Council, to “cease all material and political support to Russia’s war effort”.
The statement, which followed an annual meeting of the 32 leaders of the alliance’s members, said Beijing “cannot enable the largest war in Europe in recent history without this negatively impacting its interests and reputation”.
Jens Stoltenberg, Nato’s secretary general, described the language as the “strongest message Nato allies have ever sent on China’s contributions to Russia’s illegal war against Ukraine”.
China claims neutrality in the conflict while at the same time providing an economic lifeline to and deepening strategic ties with Russia, which is subject to international sanctions.
Mr Stoltenberg told reporters in Washington that China provides equipment, microelectronics and tools that are allowing Russia “to build the missiles, to build the bombs, to build the aircraft, to build the weapons they use to attack Ukraine”.
China has always denied these claims.
A spokesman for Beijing’s mission to the European Union hit back at Nato’s statement, saying it should “stop hyping up the so-called China threat and provoking confrontation and rivalry, and do more to contribute to world peace and stability”.
The summit declaration was “full of Cold War mentality and belligerent rhetoric, and China-related content is full of provocations, lies, incitement and smears,” he said, adding that “China is not the creator of the crisis in Ukraine” and was committed to promoting peace talks.
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Beijing’s stern rebuke comes amid a surge in Chinese military activity in the Pacific.
Taiwan said on Thursday that it was closely observing a sizeable swarm of 66 Chinese warplanes operating around its territory, 36 of which were heading for exercises in the Western Pacific with the aircraft carrier Shandong.
The country’s defence ministry also released images of a Chinese J-16 fighter jet and a nuclear capable H-6 bomber, which it said had been taken recently although it did not reveal where or when.
On Wednesday, China’s foreign ministry said it firmly opposed Nato “inserting itself into the Asia-Pacific” to disrupt “stability and prosperity in this region.”
However, ahead of the Nato summit, Taiwan’s foreign ministry said it welcomed the alliance’s “continuous increase in attention to peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region in recent years.”