China criticized NATO for “changing white for black and smearing Beijing” after NATO released a strategy document calling Beijing a security challenge.
“NATO’s so-called new strategic concept disregards the facts, trades white for black, and discredits NATO’s foreign policy. China“China’s foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said at a news conference in Beijing today. “The Chinese side is firmly opposed to this. “
Comments after NATO announcement new strategic concept “China’s ambitions and coercive policies challenge the interests, security and values of this military alliance,” he said at a summit in Madrid, Spain, on June 29.
“They seek to disrupt the international order established by rules in space, cyber and ocean,” the document said.
NATO also accused China of targeting “malicious cyber operations and confrontational rhetoric” using a range of political, economic and military tools to increase its presence and global power projection, while being ambiguous about the strategy, intentions and activities of its military buildup. “.
“We want to warn NATO that it is completely useless to exaggerate the so-called Chinese threat,” Zhao told reporters. “China does not pose a systemic challenge as they think. NATO is a systemic challenge to world peace and stability. Their hands are stained with the blood of the world’s people.”

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian at a news conference in Beijing on June 29. picture: Chinese language.
The Strategic Concepts are documents updated every ten years that aim to reaffirm NATO’s values and purposes, jointly assess the security environment, and guide future political and military development.
This is the first time NATO has described China as a “challenge” in a strategy document. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said earlier that NATO did not see China as a competitor, but was disappointed that Beijing did not condemn Russia in the Ukraine conflict.
The NATO strategic concept also considers Russia to be “the most immediate and significant threat to EU national security and to peace and stability in the Euro-Atlantic region”.
NATO added that the increasingly close relationship between Moscow and Beijing “runs against EU values and interests”. However, the alliance also stressed the need to open communication channels and be ready for dialogue with the two countries.
In recent years, Russia and China have come closer in the fields of politics, trade and military, affirming the “unlimited” friendship between the two countries. China is Russia’s largest trading partner, with trade reaching $147 billion last year, up more than 30 percent from 2019.
Xuanle (follow AFP)