SULAIMANI (ESTA) — NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on Monday that the Western alliance must respond to China’s economic, political and military rise and that a final NATO summit statement will cement a new strategy towards Beijing.
“China is coming closer to us. We see them in cyber space, we see China in Africa, but we also see China investing heavily in our own critical infrastructure,” he told reporters at NATO headquarters before leaders began arriving for the summit, according to Reuters.
“We know that China does not share our values … we need to respond together as an alliance,” he said, adding that China was not an enemy or an adversary.
Stoltenberg has described the summit, which U.S. President Joe Biden will attend for the first time, as a “pivotal moment”.
Members aim to show that the seven-decades-old defence alliance remains a central support for U.S. efforts to uphold peace and democracy around the world, including standing up to China and its rapid military rise.
Diplomats said the NATO summit’s final communique would not call China an adversary – and Stoltenberg said China was not an enemy – but would demonstrate concern, calling it a “systemic” challenge to Atlantic security as it joins Russia with military drills, launches cyber attacks and rapidly builds up its navy.
Given the threats, leaders hope to hear Biden recommit the United States to NATO’s collective defence after his predecessor Donald Trump’s confrontational rhetoric towards allies from 2017 to 2019 at summits created an impression of crisis, envoys said.
“We believe that NATO is vital to our ability to maintain American security and I want them to know that NATO is a sacred obligation,” said Biden on Sunday at the end of the G7 before flying to Brussels.
(Esta Media Network/Reuters)
