The News
Leaders at the NATO summit on Wednesday accused China of backing Russia’s war in Ukraine. Beijing is “a decisive enabler of Russia’s war,” the alliance said, adding it demanded that China stop providing weapons and military technology to the Kremlin.
Beijing on Thursday rejected NATO’s accusations of assisting Russia, calling the claims “falsehoods fabricated by the US.”
The statement marks a major shift in tone toward China from NATO, following months of hardening positions against Beijing from Western nations.
SIGNALS
NATO stance on China is shifting
The joint statement from the alliance’s leaders is a major change in its posture toward China. Biden has previously downplayed claims about China’s role in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, saying in 2023 that he believed accusations that Beijing was materially supporting Moscow were exaggerated. But that view “has changed drastically” as the war continues into its third year, The New York Times noted. China “heeded warnings not to supply Russia with full weapons systems,” but has “done everything short of that, providing computer chips, advanced software and the components needed for Russia to rebuild a defense industrial base that churned out faulty and outdated equipment.”
China, Belarus hold joint military exercises
Earlier this week, China and Russian ally Belarus carried out joint military drills in the country near its border with Poland, a NATO country. In comments posted to Telegram, the Belarusian ministry of defense said the drills were necessary because of NATO’s growing presence on the border, “which leads to an increase in tension in the region.” China hasn’t carried out military drills in Belarus since 2018, but the drills’ timing and their physical proximity to Poland wasn’t by chance, analysts say. The drills are “much more about political signals… than for the exercise itself,” one analyst told Euractiv.
China worried about NATO’s agreement with Pacific nations
Washington and NATO have both, in recent years, strengthened their ties with nations in the Pacific to counter China’s influence there. The move has worried Beijing, which believes the US is trying to increase its “hegemonic” presence in the region. But NATO’s strengthening relationships also give it an edge over China’s military partnerships, said Luis Simon, director of the Centre for Security Diplomacy and Strategy at Vrije Universiteit Brussel. “The fact that the Euro-Atlantic and Indo-Pacific alliances are structured around a clear anchor — U.S. military power — makes them more cohesive and gives them a strategic edge as compared to the sort of interlocking partnerships that bind China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea.”