By Anadolu Agency
China on Wednesday rejected the NATO summit declaration that accused relations between Beijing and Moscow of threatening the “rule-based international order.”
In response to NATO’s accusation, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said that the relations between China and Russia are based on the principles of “non-alignment, non-confrontation, and non-targeting of third parties.”
Wang told reporters that the relations are “fundamentally different” from what “NATO is doing, like forming small cliques for bloc confrontation,” according to the Beijing-based Global Times.
On Tuesday, a joint statement issued after day one of the ongoing NATO leaders’ summit in Vilnius, Lithuania said: “The deepening strategic partnership between the PRC (People’s Republic of China) and Russia and their mutually reinforcing attempts to undercut the rules-based international order run counter to our values and interests.”
The statement called on China to play a “constructive role” as a permanent member of the UN Security Council and to condemn Russia’s war on Ukraine.
China also “firmly” opposed NATO’s “eastward expansion” into the Asia-Pacific region in light of the joint statement by NATO.
A spokesperson for the Chinese Mission to the European Union said that Beijing will firmly defend its sovereignty, security, and development interests and strongly oppose NATO’s eastward expansion into the Asia-Pacific.