China slams NATO's 'Cold War mentality'

陈小将

China rebuked NATO accusations on Thursday, describing them as "filled with Cold War mentality and belligerent rhetoric" and "provocative with obvious lies and smears".

The NATO Washington Summit Declaration, issued on Wednesday during the military alliance's summit, claimed that China's "ambitions and coercive policies continue to challenge our interests, security and values". It accuses China of undercutting and reshaping the rules-based international order.

The declaration also accused China of becoming a "decisive enabler "of Russia's conflict with Ukraine and posing systemic challenges to Euro-Atlantic security. It also criticized China on various issues, including cyber, space, nuclear and the "Indo-Pacific".

"The NATO Washington Summit Declaration is filled with Cold War mentality and belligerent rhetoric," a spokesperson from the Chinese Mission to the European Union said. "The China-related paragraphs are provocative with obvious lies and smears. We firmly reject and deplore these accusations and have lodged serious representations with NATO."

In Beijing, Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian said on Thursday that China is not the creator of the Ukraine crisis, let alone a participant.

"But we have not stood at the side and watched, but have actively promoted peace talks and sought political settlement," Lin said.

Lin slammed NATO for blaming China for the Ukraine crisis as harboring "evil intention".

"China's objective and just stance and its constructive role on the Ukraine crisis have been widely recognized by the international community," he said.

Lin also lashed out at US Secretary of State Antony Blinken for suggesting on Wednesday that China supports Russia's defense industry.

Lin cited data that more than 60 percent of components of Russia's imported weapons and dual-use goods came from the United States and other Western countries, and 95 percent of the key components of Russian weapons destroyed by Ukraine came from the West.