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Nato leaders at a plenary session at the North Atlantic Treaty Organization headquarters in Brussels on Monday. The 30-nation alliance discussed increasingly tense relations with China as part of its agenda. Photo: AP

Nato says China presents ‘systemic challenges’ and vows to counter its rise

  • The North Atlantic Treaty Organization releases a statement a day after the Group of 7 focuses on China as well
  • Events are part of US President Joe Biden’s plans to rebuild the transatlantic alliance, with an aim of heading off China threats
Nato

For the first time in its 72-year history, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization has branded China as presenting “systemic challenges”, in a statement that vowed to counter Beijing’s rise. 

At the first meeting of Nato’s 30 national leaders since 2019, China was central to discussions – as it had been at the G7 session in Cornwall, England, over the weekend. 

US President Joe Biden arriving for a summit meeting at Nato headquarters on Monday. Photo: EPA-EFE
Taken together – and in addition to a European Union-US summit in Brussels set for Tuesday – the events are a manifestation of US President Joe Biden’s plans to rebuild the transatlantic alliance, with an expressed aim of heading off threats posed by China. 

“China’s stated ambitions and assertive behaviour present systemic challenges to the rules-based international order and to areas relevant to alliance security,” the statement said. 

“We are concerned by those coercive policies which stand in contrast to the fundamental values enshrined in the Washington Treaty,” a reference to the Nato founding charter.

In a news conference after the summit’s conclusion, Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that the body was concerned that China was “rapidly expanding its nuclear arsenal, with more warheads and a large number of sophisticated, sophisticated delivery systems”, as well as its military cooperation with Russia and its “use of misinformation”. 

Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg speaking at a news conference in Brussels on Monday. Photo: Reuters

“Nato leaders call on China to uphold its international commitments, and to act responsibly in the international system, including in space, cyber, and maritime domains, in keeping with its role as a major power,” Stoltenberg said.

The 79-point statement devoted three paragraphs and 10 mentions to China. In a marker of how Nato’s view of China has evolved in the past 18 months, it earned a single reference following the 2019 summit – when the alliance “recognised that China’s growing influence and international policies present both opportunities and challenges”.

Biden highlighted that evolution later in the day at a news conference by noting that “the last time Nato put together a strategic plan was back in 2010, when Russia was considered a partner, and China wasn’t even mentioned”.

Both countries, he said, were now “trying to drive a wedge in our transatlantic solidarity”.

Biden called Nato’s Article 5 – which obligates each member nation to come to the defence of any other member that is attacked militarily – “sacred”.

Earlier, asked if there was a “line” China would need to cross to be upgraded from “systemic challenge” to “adversary”, Stoltenberg said that “we’re not in the business of defining exact lines, but we are addressing together the fact that China is soon [going to be] the biggest economy in the world, they will have the second biggest defence budget and the biggest navy”.

“They are investing heavily in new modern capabilities, including investing in new disruptive technologies such as autonomous systems, facial recognition and artificial intelligence, and putting them into different weapon systems that they are really in the process of changing the nature of warfare in a way we have hardly seen before, or perhaps [never] seen before,” he added.

Speaking to reporters ahead of the summit, leaders emphasised their sense that China is among Nato’s greatest foreign and defence policy challenges. 

“China is increasingly running up against Nato, whether it be in Africa, in the Mediterranean, or more specifically in the Arctic, as they are trying to engage more,” said Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, speaking at the Brussels Forum, a think tank-organised event running alongside the Nato summit.

“We need to make sure that as an alliance, even though we are much more Atlantic than Pacific, we are aware of the global influences that China is having,” Trudeau added.

They were also keen to highlight the restoration of the transatlantic partnership, following four years in which the former US president, Donald Trump, pursued isolationist policies and threatened to withdraw from Nato altogether. 

“This summit is part of the process of reaffirming, rebuilding the fundamental alliances of the United States, weakened by the previous administration,” said Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi.

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Nato says China presents ‘systemic challenges’

Nato says China presents ‘systemic challenges’

Draghi, who was appointed in February, also pledged on Sunday following the G7 meeting to “assess carefully” Rome’s subscription to China’s Belt and Road Initiative, entered into by his predecessor in 2019. 

However, leaders were keen to avoid branding the heated rivalry with China as a “new cold war”. 

Speaking to reporters as he arrived at the summit, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he didn’t “think anyone around the table wants to descend into a new cold war with China – I don’t think that’s where people are”. 

One of China’s few allies around the table, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, also cautioned against such rhetoric. “I’m 58. I spent 26 years of my life in Cold War. Believe me, it’s bad, so don’t do that,” Orban said. 

The statement encouraged collaboration with China “where possible”, particularly in areas such as climate change.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, at the Nato summit meeting on Monday, cautioned against raising the rhetoric against China. Photo: EPA-EFE

“Based on our interests, we welcome opportunities to engage with China on areas of relevance to the alliance and on common challenges such as climate change,” the statement read.

“There is value in information exchange on respective policies and activities, to enhance awareness and discuss potential disagreements.”

Analysts suggested that Nato would not be taking any direct military measures, such as sending vessels to the South China Sea, or military exercises in China’s backyard. 

“At most, Nato will defend its partnerships with Asia-Pacific countries such as Japan, South Korea, and Australia, which are mainly political partnerships, with regular dialogue,” said Pierre Marcos, a visiting fellow at Europe, Russia, and Eurasia programme at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies. 

“So this new focus of Nato on China is about better understanding the security implications of China’s growing influence and presence in Europe,” he added.

Additional reporting by Robert Delaney

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