China and NATO: Warning against expansion by others

NATO declares China a rival and a security threat. It has faced serious charges in Beijing. The government and the state media paint a very different picture of themselves.

For several days, the Chinese state media has been in the form of top-level propaganda: NATO is a “serious threat” to world peace, writes the state news agency Xinhua. According to the Global Times, NATO is now setting up an expansion route in the Asia-Pacific region.

Government officials are taking the same position: Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenpin says NATO is the result of the Cold War. It is a tool used by the United States to maintain its hegemony and control Europe’s security.

A lot of understanding for Russia

Sovereign nations in Europe feel threatened by Russia and have not said a word about joining NATO of their own free will. Instead: Understand Russia and its “security interests”, as they say.

The state media also wants to recall the war in Kosovo and the May 7, 1999 NATO – accidental, as later claimed – bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade.

To this day, the incident in China is considered evidence of NATO’s aggression. “It is illegal and immoral and no one has been punished for it,” Canadian lawyer Christophe Black recently complained on Chinese state television.

The story of expansion

Even in the Ukraine war, the charges are against NATO and the United States. The role of US-led NATO is “clear.” Wang Fan of the Foreign University in Beijing tells the State Department on state television that the United States and other countries are not yet ready to resolve the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. Its purpose is to further weaken Russia – which has not yet been achieved.

The state media has long since forgotten who started the war in Ukraine. China has never openly criticized Russia for invading Ukraine. Instead, government spokesmen are spreading a comprehensive NATO and big US plan to dominate the world and the story of wanting to keep China small with Russia.

What angers the Chinese leadership: NATO has invited Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand to Madrid.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenpin warns that the Asia-Pacific region does not belong to the North Atlantic region, but “rejects anything that could lead to divisions, divisions or conflict in the region.”

The conflict has been going on for a long time

This conflict has been going on for a long time – not because of NATO, but because of China’s aggressive behavior in Asia. Diplomatically, however, the People’s Republic manifests itself very differently: as a global peacemaker.

State and party leader Xi Jinping launched the “Global Security Initiative” in April. However, it is not entirely clear what he is saying. Shi spoke of “inseparable security”, meaning that no country should expand its security at the expense of other states.

This is not a new idea, and was included in the Helsinki Final Act in 1975. However, Europe and NATO see no reason to join the Xi effort. Russia, on the other hand, has already signaled support.