The Chinese government reacted with outrage on Thursday to the publication of this year’s NATO summit declaration, which explicitly referred to Beijing as a threat and suggested it could act in response to China’s close diplomatic relationship with Russia.
The NATO summit concluded in Washington, DC, on Thursday, following talks among the world leaders of NATO member countries and guests such as the leaders of Japan, South Korea, and Ukraine. The ongoing Russian invasion of that country was the primary topic of discussion at the summit as Ukraine borders NATO’s eastern European states, but the declaration firmly condemned China for what it described as participation in the invasion.
Calling China a “decisive enabler” of the Ukraine invasion, NATO warned that China “cannot enable the largest war in Europe in recent history without this negatively impacting its interests and reputation.”
The Chinese Communist Party has enthusiastically supported the Russian economy against American and European sanctions, implemented in response to the invasion. It maintains diplomatic relations with Ukraine also, however, because Kyiv is a partner in the predatory Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has invited Chinese companies to rebuild Ukraine following the war.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry nonetheless effusively denied playing any role in supporting Russia and claimed the NATO powers were attempting to “create imaginary enemies” to justify the continued existence of the military alliance.
“NATO’s Washington Summit Declaration is a scaremongering piece about the Asia-Pacific, a product of the Cold War mentality and full of belligerent rhetoric,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian told reporters on Thursday, declaring Chinese leaders “strongly deplore and firmly oppose it.”
Lin went on to call NATO itself an “enormous danger to the world” and a “vestige of the Cold War” no longer necessary in the 21st century.
“To create imaginary enemies to justify its existence and act out of area is NATO’s go-to tactic,” he continued.
Lin added that accusing China of supporting Russia, its top ally with which strongman Vladimir Putin has described the current diplomatic ties as a “golden age,” “makes no sense,” then bizarrely appeared to accuse the United States of arming Russia.
“Statistics actually show that over 60 percent of Russia’s imported military components and dual-use items come from the US and other Western countries,” he claimed. “95 percent of Russia’s key components destroyed by Ukraine come from the West, and 72 percent of Western parts of Russian-made weapons come from US companies.”
“China urges NATO to discard the Cold War mentality, bloc confrontation and zero-sum approach,” he demanded, “form the right perception of China, stop interfering in China’s internal affairs and vilifying China and stop disrupting China-Europe relations.”
China’s state media has for years been calling on NATO to be “relegated to the dustbin of history” and continued to make the same demands for the disbanding of the military alliance throughout the summit this week. The state-run Global Times propaganda outlet has spent much of the week deriding NATO, calling the alliance “brittle” due to several of its states being electoral republics and suggesting the end of the Cold War has made the group obsolete.
On Thursday, the Global Times cited its usual regime-approved “experts” to conclude that NATO’s concerns about China — which it listed as expanding beyond Russia to China’s cybersecurity threats and colonization of the South China Sea — were an “excuse” to justify its ongoing support of Ukraine.
“NATO’s shift in rhetoric toward China is partly driven by the US and partly due to NATO’s own difficulties as it is struggling with the Ukraine issue, and the more they struggle, the more they look for excuses,” “expert” researcher Lü Xiang was quoted as saying. “They need to find an excuse, and the ready-made excuse now is that China is supporting Russia, backing it from behind.”
Lü did not address China’s high-profile overtures to Russia, including multiple meetings between dictator Xi Jinping and Putin this year, or how they could create the impression that China is “backing” Russia.
Rather than denying that China and Russia support each other, another “expert” in the Global Times article claimed that the “China-Russia cooperation” is necessary as “a balance force against the reckless actions of the US and the West, ensuring the world operates fairly and orderly.”
China’s insistence that it is not supporting the Ukraine invasion follows a marked change in attitude by Zelensky and his administration towards Beijing. In the early days of the invasion, Zelensky attempted to court Chinese support, citing the deep trade ties between the two countries and inviting the BRI apparatus to help rebuild his wartorn country. Xi granted Zelensky a phone call in April 2023 but has otherwise kept a distance from Ukraine.
The Ukrainian government changed its attitude in June after reports surfaced that China was secretly lobbying countries not to participate in Zelensky’s Swiss-hosted “peace summit” that month. The Ukrainian president accused Xi of allowing his country to become a puppet of the Kremlin.
“It is unfortunate that such a big, independent, powerful country as China is an instrument in the hands of Putin,” Zelensky said.
The Ukrainian foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, implied in comments separately in June that China was backing neither Russia nor Ukraine, but merely waiting to exploit the winner.
“China is in no rush” to take sides, he said at a public event, “for one simple reason – it is critical for them to see how the war between Russia and Ukraine ends.”
“Because if it ends with Ukraine’s victory, China’s further actions will be constrained. But if this war ends not even with Russia’s victory, but with them imposing their strategic initiative,” he explained, “that is, when they will be encroaching little by little for years, and we will be fighting back little by little despite all the assistance we receive, then, on the contrary, it will free China’s hands.”
While Ukraine is not a member of NATO, Zelensky’s presence at the summit this week suggests that he did not discourage the stern condemnations of the Chinese government in the summit declaration.