One Nato stronger alongside Ukraine, in its war against Russia obviously Moscow doesn’t like it but it also irritates the Chinese which, condemned as a major facilitator of Russian aggression, reacts in turn by accusing the leaders gathered in Washington for the 75th anniversary of the Atlantic organization of recreating a climate of cold War. “NATO should stop emphasizing the so-called Chinese threat and provoke clashes and rivalries, and do more to contribute to world peace and stability,” a spokesperson for Beijing’s mission to the European Union said in a statement on its website, published shortly after the second day of proceedings at the Convention Center closed.
China “is not responsible for the crisis in Ukraine and reiterated its commitment to promoting dialogue and seeking a political solution, a position that has received the support of the international community,” the Chinese spokesperson clarified. The embassy indicated that China has a policy of “not providing lethal weapons to any of the parties to the conflict and exercising strict control over the export of dual-use goods, including civilian drones.” “NATO should reflect on itself and take concrete actions to de-escalate and resolve the issue,” it stressed in the lengthy statement.
NATO had accused Beijing of siding with Moscow in the war, also speaking of support for its military-industrial base: “It cannot facilitate the largest conflict in Europe in recent history without negative impact on its own interests and reputation”, Washington leaders had commented. “Instead of using others as scapegoats, NATO should reflect on itself and take real action to defuse the situation and solve the problems” was Beijing’s response, which also launched a clear warning to the West to hold on outside the Indo-Pacific regionan area of development and not of geopolitical competition: “NATO – the spokesman concluded – should maintain its role as a regional defensive organization in the North Atlantic”. At dawn today, in the meantime 66 Chinese planes flew over Taiwan islandraising yet another international complaint from Taipei: perhaps a routine even if in the context one might think that the intimidation was not accidental.
From Moscow, the stone guest of the meeting, the words contained in the NATO statement leave no doubts. “The Alliance is a threat and it is fully involved in the conflict around Ukraine“, said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov. “We are obliged to analyze very thoroughly the decisions taken at the Washington summit, the discussions that took place, to analyze very carefully the text of the adopted declaration that constitutes a very serious threat to national security.” All this, Peskov added, “will require us to take thoughtful, coordinated and effective measures to contain NATO.”
Just today, the Russian General Staff met in St. Petersburg to close ranks with the ‘friendly’ countries of the BRICS (of which Russia itself is a member) and to increasingly strengthen the ‘antagonistic pole’ to the West. “The final declaration adopted at the NATO summit shows that Russia’s adversaries in Europe and the United States are not supporters of peace and dialogue on Ukraine,” said Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov from there.
The reference is also to the deployment of American long-range missiles in Germany which pose “a threat, and to which we will respond,” the minister added on the sidelines of the forum. “The nature of our reaction will be determined calmly and professionally. Without nerves, without emotions, we will develop, first of all, a military response to this new threat,” he confirmed with words that worry Ryabkov.