- While the 30 heads of state and government avoided calling China a rival, they expressed concern about what they said were its “coercive policies”, the opaque ways it is modernising its armed forces and its use of disinformation.
Agencies | , Brussels
PUBLISHED ON JUN 15, 2021 03:05 AM IST
NATO leaders targeted China in a strongly worded warning on Monday, declaring the nation poses a constant security challenge, is trying to undermine world order and is working on nuclear missile development at a worrisome pace.
In a summit statement, the leaders said that China’s goals and “assertive behaviour present systemic challenges to the rules-based international order and to areas relevant to alliance security”. The warning to China comes as US President Joe Biden has stepped up his effort to rally allies to speak in a more unified voice about China’s human rights record, its trade practices and its military’s assertive behaviour that has unnerved US allies in the Pacific.
While the 30 heads of state and government avoided calling China a rival, they expressed concern about what they said were its “coercive policies”, the opaque ways it is modernising its armed forces and its use of disinformation.
China takes a dig at G7, labels its role ‘sinister’
China denounced a joint statement by the G7 leaders that rebuked Beijing as a gross interference in the country’s internal affairs.
China’s embassy in London said it was dissatisfied and opposed to mentions of Xinjiang, Hong Kong and Taiwan that distorted the facts and exposed the “sinister intentions of a few countries such as the US”.
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