Beijing, June 26 (EFE).- China’s Ministry of Defense lashed out at NATO on Thursday, calling it a “product of the Cold War” that “provokes wars everywhere.”
The comments came after G7 foreign ministers met on the margins of the NATO summit in the Netherlands on Wednesday and discussed cooperation on “China’s destabilizing actions” in the South China Sea.
Beijing’s military spokesman Zhang Xiaogang declared Thursday at the ministry’s monthly press conference that “NATO is a product of the Cold War and the largest military alliance in the world.”
According to the Chinese spokesperson, it is also a “veritable ‘war machine’ that stirs up trouble and provokes war everywhere.”
“In recent years, NATO has expanded its power beyond the geographical scope stipulated in its own treaty, which has aroused high vigilance from regional countries,” Zhang said, conveying that Beijing opposed the alliance’s “use of China as an excuse to ‘advance eastward to the Asia-Pacific region’.”
He added that the development of China’s military power “is entirely for the purpose of safeguarding national sovereignty, security and development interests,” Zhang added, noting that Beijing’s national defense policy is defensive in nature.
The G7 foreign ministers in The Hague on Wednesday “spoke about the importance of maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, deepening cooperation on China’s destabilizing actions in the South China Sea, and the role of G7 countries in maintaining a free and open Indo-Pacific region,” according to a joint statement. EFE
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