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Stoltenberg comments on the Brussels summit while US President Biden is holding the first such meeting.
As the annual summit of NATO leaders begins, Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg called for a transatlantic security alliance to address the challenges of China’s rise and respond to the growing economic, political and military forces.
Stoltenberg on Monday denied that Western powers and China were entering a “new Cold War,” but said Beijing did not agree with the values of the 30-member group.
“China is not our opponent, it is not our enemy. But we must work together as an alliance to address the challenges facing China’s rise to our security, ”he told reporters before NATO leaders in Brussels, Belgium, before reaching the summit.
“China is approaching us. We see them in cyberspace, we see China in Africa, but we also see China investing heavily in our critical infrastructure. ”
NATO leaders expect China to face a security risk at the summit, with U.S. President Joe Biden the first since winning the election last year.
Diplomats told Reuters that the latest communiqué would not name China as an enemy, but would show concern, describing Russia’s “systemic” security challenge with military probes as it launches cyberattacks and quickly builds its navy.
The planned move will come after the G7 nations reprimanded Beijing over the weekend for human rights violations against the Uyghur minority population in the Xinjiang region.
The G7 group also called for great autonomy in Hong Kong and called for a full and detailed investigation into the origin of the coronavirus in China.
“Double-track approach” to Russia
Stoltenberg said NATO leaders also want to reaffirm that the alliance has a “double track” of military deterrence against Russia, including the deployment and dialogue of allied troops in the Baltic countries and Poland.
He told Radio Times on Sunday that relations between NATO and Moscow are now “at their lowest point since the end of the Cold War.”
“We see a willingness to use military force against our neighbors; Ukraine, Georgia. But we also see cyberattacks, ”he said.
“We see attempts to interfere in our democratic political processes, to undermine trust in our institutions and our efforts to divide us.”
Leaders expect Biden Washington to hear back to NATO’s collective defense after Donald Trump’s rhetoric of the conflict erupted from 2017 to 2019 after the impression of a crisis at the summits, officials told Reuters.
“We believe that NATO is key to our ability to maintain American security and I want to know that it is a sacred duty of NATO,” Biden said on Sunday as the G7 closed before flying to Brussels.
Biden said he will use his time at the NATO summit to emphasize the U.S.’s commitment to Article 5 of the treaty, stating that a member’s attack is an attack on all and must be a collective response.
The summit comes ahead of talks expected by US President Vladimir Putin with his Russian counterpart in Geneva on Wednesday.
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