The Wall Street Journal reported that China warned NATO not to "provoke confrontation" after the organization identified Beijing as a "challenge to its interests" during its 2024 Summit.
NATO met in Washington D.C. on July 9-11 for its 75th Anniversary of the Alliance. During the summit, NATO claimed China was a "decisive enabler" of the Russia-Ukraine war and was participating in an effort to find "an alternative to the U.S-led global order," according to the WTJ. In response, China said NATO was threatening its own interests and claimed it would continue to "promote peace talks" and push for a "political settlement" in the war.
.@NATO leaders call out China’s coercive policies: https://t.co/NM3Isy4f9O pic.twitter.com/JE4fzwTiPH
— Ambassador Nicholas Burns (@USAmbChina) July 11, 2024
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman, Lin Jin, said on July 11 NATO's statement was "full of prejudice, smears and provocations,"
Jin also said NATO was involving itself in Asia and the process, interfering with China's interests. Therefore, China warned NATO to "avoid messing up Asia the way it messed up Europe."
NATO's comment to China went viral on one of China's "heavily controlled social-media platforms," Weibo. Comments on the website said the statement by NATO implied China was their "next target, the WTJ reported.
“They are wrapping up the war between Russia and Ukraine and can now spare a free hand to target us,” wrote one Weibo user in a comment that garnered more than a thousand likes.
The NYT has more:
China’s tight bond with Russia is facing renewed condemnation from Washington and its allies after NATO issued its strongest accusation yet that Chinese technology is sustaining Moscow’s war in Ukraine.
Leaders from the NATO alliance, meeting in Washington, declared that Beijing “cannot enable the largest war in Europe in recent history” without facing repercussions.
Despite a widening web of Western bans and restrictions, Chinese semiconductors, machine tools and other parts have become vital to Russia’s arms industries, helping Moscow to keep up its grinding war, say American and European officials, intelligence agencies and security experts.
But China’s leader, Xi Jinping, and President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia have repeatedly said that their countries’ strong relationship is a bulwark against American dominance. Mr. Xi is unlikely to easily bow to NATO’s demands.