China Is Considered As Systematic Challenge By NATO: We Are Not A Challenge, But We Don't Care If There Are Challenges

Illustration. (Wikimedia Commons/Ecow)

JAKARTA - China's mission to the European Union urged the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) on Tuesday, June 15 local time, to stop exaggerating China's threat theory.

This insistence came after NATO named China as a systemic challenge in its joint statement, following a summit on Monday, June 14 yesterday in Brussels, Belgium.

"China's assertive ambition and behavior present systemic challenges to the rules-based international order and areas relevant to the security of the alliance", NATO leaders said in a joint statement.

On the occasion, United States (US) President Joe Biden called on the leaders of NATO member states to fight against China's authoritarianism and increasing military power, a shift in focus for the alliance that was previously directed to the Soviet Union during the Cold War.

Meanwhile, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said China's growing military presence from the Baltic to Africa, made NATO must be prepared.

"China is getting closer to us. We see them online, we see China in Africa, but we also see China investing heavily in our own critical infrastructure", he said, referring to ports and telecommunications networks.

"NATO's statements 'slander' China's peaceful developments, misjudge the international situation, and demonstrate a Cold War mentality", China wrote on the mission's website in response to NATO's accusations.

"China has always been committed to peaceful development. We will not pose a 'systemic challenge' to anyone. But if anyone wants to pose a 'systemic challenge' to us, we will not remain indifferent", China stressed on the website.

A day earlier, a meeting of the G7 nations in the UK over the weekend, highlighted China's human rights in the Xinjiang region, called for Hong Kong to maintain a high degree of autonomy, and demanded a full investigation into the origins of the coronavirus in China.

In response, the Chinese Embassy in London firmly opposed the allegations related to Xinjiang, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, which it said distorted facts while exposing the malicious intentions of some countries such as the United States.