Just days before the G-20 meeting in Bali, China slams US and NATO after Blinken accused China of attempting to undermine the rules-based international order.
Days before a meeting between US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, China launched a harsh attack on the US and NATO on Wednesday.
The remarks made by Zhao Lijian, a spokesperson for the foreign ministry, highlight the deteriorating relationship as well as China’s more confrontational style of foreign relations, which vehemently rejects criticism.
Relations between the US and China are characterised by disputes on a range of subjects, including trade, human rights, Taiwan, and Beijing’s territorial claims in the South China Sea. China has declined to condemn Russia’s four-month war against Ukraine, criticised the sanctions NATO countries have imposed on Moscow, and accused Washington and its allies of instigating the crisis.
In order to counter the impact of liberal democracies, Russia and China have consolidated their political, economic, and military connections, as well as aligned their foreign policies. Weeks prior to Russia’s invasion of February, Chinese President Xi Jinping welcomed Russian President Vladimir Putin to China for a meeting where they vowed an unrestricted alliance.
For the first time, NATO singled out China as one of its strategic priorities for the next ten years at its summit. After presenting NATO’s 10-year Strategic Concept, Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg stated that China is significantly strengthening its military capabilities, including nuclear weapons, intimidating its neighbours, posing a threat to Taiwan, monitoring and controlling its own citizens through cutting-edge technology, and disseminating Russian lies and misinformation.
Blinken charged China with attempting to undermine the rules-based international order at the NATO summit held in Spain last week.
Zhao’s response
Zhao claimed in his remarks on Wednesday that the so-called rules-based international order is really a family rule created by a small number of nations to advance US self-interest. He added that NATO must give up its blind faith in military force and that Washington only observes international laws as it sees fit.
At the daily briefing on Wednesday, Zhao claimed that the United States and NATO have been collaborating closely to incite competition with China and provoke group confrontation. Even today, the history of NATO is one of launching wars at random, creating conflicts, and killing innocent civilians, Zhao remarked. Facts show that NATO constitutes a systematic threat to world peace and security rather than China, who they contend is NATO’s systemic rival.
At a gathering of the foreign ministers on the Indonesian island of Bali on Saturday, among a group of 20 major wealthy and developing countries, Blinken and Wang are anticipated to meet.
