The leaders called on Beijing to uphold its international commitments and to act responsibly in the international system.
Saying that the Chinese are working to undermine global order, NATO leaders on Monday declared China a constant security challenge. The message was in synch with President Joe Biden’s efforts to get allies to speak out with a more unified voice against China’s trade, military and human rights practices.
China’s goals and “assertive behavior present systemic challenges to the rules-based international order and to areas relevant to alliance security”, the leaders said in a summit statement.
Though the 30 heads of state and government avoided refering to China as a rival, they expressed concern about what they said were its “coercive policies,” the opaque ways it is modernizing its armed forces and its use of disinformation.
The leaders called on Beijing to uphold its international commitments and to act responsibly in the international system.
US President Joe Biden, who came to the summit after three days of consulting with G7, pushed for the group’s communique there that called out what it said were forced labor practices and other human rights violations impacting Uyghur Muslims and other ethnic minorities in the western Xinjiang province. The president said he was satisfied with the communique, although differences remain among the allies about how forcefully to criticize Beijing.
His eight-day trip to Egypt was also used by Biden to urge allies to work more closely in pressing Russian President Vladimir Putin over his government’s treatment of political dissent and to do more to stop cyber attacks originating from Russia that have targeted private companies and governments around the globe.
As a bulwark against Russian aggression, The North Atlantic Treaty Organization is an alliance of European and North American countries formed after World War II.
The NATO nations “will engage China with a view to defending the security interests of the alliance”, the new Brussels communique states plainly.
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