China tells UN expansion of Nato, or a Nato-like body, into the Asia-Pacific will stir up conflict

Name: Nato does not regard China as ‘adversary’ but worried over Russia ties
Uploaded: 2022-06-29T08:00:22.000Z
Duration: 1 min
Description: Nato does not regard China as ‘adversary’ but worried over Russia ties

Beijing is concerned US is building an Asian version of Nato as Australia, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea attend the Nato meeting for the first time

Washington wants Beijing to pressure Moscow into ending the war in Ukraine, ‘given its relationship with Russia’, says US national security adviser Jake Sullivan

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China’s ambassador to the UN Zhang Jun told the UN Security Council that successive expansions by Nato had failed to make Europe more secure, but rather had sown conflict. Photo: EPA-EFE

Teddy Ng

Published: 4:00pm, 29 Jun 2022

A senior Chinese diplomat has warned that the Asia-Pacific region would face turmoil and conflict if Nato was extended there.

China’s envoy to the United Nations, Zhang Jun, said Nato had caused trouble “in different parts of the world”, and should learn a lesson from the ongoing Ukraine war.

“Nato’s five eastward expansions after the Cold War have not only failed to make Europe securer, but also sowed the seed of conflict,” Zhang said in a UN Security Council briefing on Ukraine on Tuesday.

“The kind of turmoil and conflict that are affecting parts of the world must not be allowed to happen in the Asia-Pacific.”

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Nato does not regard China as ‘adversary’ but worried over Russia ties

Zhang was speaking while Nato met in Madrid where the bloc is expected to release an updated strategic concept to replace the version adopted in 2010.

“The strategic concept described Russia as a strategic partner and did not refer to China,” US national security adviser Jake Sullivan said. This one “will speak very directly and in a clear-eyed way to the multifaceted challenge posed by the People’s Republic of China”.