NATO Summit: Olaf Scholz Praises US Plan to Deploy Long-Range Missiles in Germany

What’s behind China’s rebuke of NATO?Posted at 15:59

Frank Gardner
Security reporter

The final statement of the NATO summit has caused great sensitivity in Beijing.

Beijing has described accusations of cyber espionage, hybrid warfare and covert Chinese assistance to Moscow’s war effort in Ukraine as lies and “Cold War” propaganda.

Russia also asserts that NATO has no right to intervene in the Asia-Pacific arena as its “interference” will only undermine peace and security.

Regardless of the irony that Chinese forces are currently training in Belarus, close to Poland’s border with NATO and more than 4,000 miles from Beijing, this dispute can only push China closer to Moscow and those countries hostile to the West.

China has already seized parts of the South China Sea militarily and is now threatening the self-governing democracy of Taiwan. Pro-Western states in the region, especially Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and the Philippines, want more Western support to counter China’s growing power. But China is determined to resist.

Now the challenge for NATO and Western leaders is how to help bolster their allies in the region without provoking a conflict with Beijing that could have dire consequences for the global economy.