TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg on Tuesday (July 11) delivered a speech during the alliance’s ongoing summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, where he criticized China’s tacit support of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and condemned its coercion of Taiwan.
Following last year’s NATO summit, which first identified China as presenting “systemic competition,” this year’s summit communique once again mentioned China, saying it has expanded its footprint and projected power through political, economic, and military means. It added that Beijing’s opaqueness about its strategy, intentions, and military buildup, coupled with deepening relations with Russia, present a challenge to NATO’s core precepts.
The communique stated that China’s “ambitions and coercive policies challenge our interests, security, and values.” It warned that the alliances continue to face cyber, space, hybrid, and other asymmetric threats from China, and Beijing’s “malicious hybrid and cyber operations and its confrontational rhetoric and disinformation target Allies and harm Alliance security.”
NATO said that China seeks to control key technologies and industries, infrastructure, raw materials, and supply chains. “It (China) strives to subvert the rules-based international order, including in the space, cyber and maritime domains,” the alliance said.
The communique also mentioned Beijing’s nuclear weapons policy, including objecting to China’s expansion of plutonium production for military use under the guise of civilian programs, which would undermine the goals of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
In addition, the communique said that China and Russia have deepened their strategic partnership and mutually strengthened their attempts to undermine the international order, running counter to NATO’s values and interests. NATO demanded that China “condemn Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, to abstain from supporting Russia’s war effort in any way, to cease amplifying Russia’s false narrative blaming Ukraine and NATO for Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine.”
At a press conference on Tuesday, Stoltenberg said, “China is increasingly challenging the rules-based international order, refusing to condemn Russia’s war against Ukraine, threatening Taiwan, and carrying out substantial military build-up.” He added that the modernization of China’s nuclear arsenal is “unprecedented in speed and scale, and being carried out with no transparency,” and “Allies agreed to continue working together to protect against China’s coercive behavior.”
On Wednesday (July 12), the leaders of 31 NATO countries and Sweden will meet with the leaders of Japan, South Korea, New Zealand, and Australia, as well as European Council President Charles Michel and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. Stoltenberg said China would also be on the agenda at this meeting.
