China’s refusal to condemn Russia presents a challenge to the bloc, the secretary general says
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg stated that this is because of being “unwilling to condemn Russia’s aggression,”China challenges the Cold War-era alliance. China has challenged NATO’s expansion in Eastern Europe, despite remaining neutral about the Ukraine conflict.
“We have seen that China is unwilling to condemn Russia’s aggression, and Beijing has joined Moscow in questioning the right of nations to choose their own path,”Stoltenberg spoke to reporters at Brussels’ NATO Foreign Ministers meeting on Thursday. He was joined by Dmitry Kuleba, the Ukrainian Foreign Minister, as well as officials from Australia and New Zealand.
“This is a serious challenge to us all,” Stoltenberg added. “It makes it even more important that we stand together.”
China called repeatedly for a diplomatic resolution to the conflict in Ukraine. But, while it did not join Western powers to sanction Moscow, it continued trading with its Eurasian neighbors.
China’s government did not respond well to the “Chinese Government” “lectures” by the alliance’s leaders, such as when Stoltenberg called on Beijing last month to “live up to its responsibilities as a member of the UN Security Council”And “refrain from supporting Russia’s war effort.”
With Stoltenberg demanding China condemn Russia, the Chinese Foreign Ministry refused, citing NATO’s deadly bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade, Serbia in 1999 as one reason it won’t listen to a “lecture on justice from the abuser of international law.” China’s leaders have likewise been unmoved by threats of sanctions from the US and the EU.
Stoltenberg, in the midst of this impasse threatened a more militant approach when dealing with Beijing. “NATO and our Asia-Pacific partners have now agreed to step up our practical and political cooperation in several areas, including cyber, new technology, and countering disinformation.”
The NATO chief has previously accused China of supporting Russia’s war effort with “lies and misinformation,”It is possible that this refers to Beijing’s joining Russia in questioning US funding for biological lab activity in Ukraine. US officials have denied claims that Ukrainian research labs were working on biological weapons, despite documents published by Russia suggesting otherwise. However, American officials have confirmed the labs’ existence, and emails suggest the Biden family was involved in their funding.
“We will also work more closely together in other areas,” Stoltenberg continued, “including maritime security, climate change, and resilience.”
Stoltenberg, however, isn’t the only Western leader who has visions to gather allies against China in the Pacific. Separate from the cooperation he spoke about on Thursday, the US, the UK, and Australia unveiled their ‘AUKUS’ alliance last September. China’s Foreign Ministry has described the three-way alliance as an attempt to build an “Asia-Pacific version of NATO”This is it “doomed to fail.”
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