In Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian denounced NATO’s new Strategic Concept as misrepresenting facts and truths. “The NATO 2022 Strategic Concept has misrepresented facts and distorted the truth. In this document, NATO once again wrongly defined China as posing ‘systemic challenges.’ It smeared China’s foreign policy and pointed fingers at China’s normal military posture and defense policy,” Zhao said in responding to the first question of yesterday’s regular press briefing. “The document seeks to stoke confrontation and antagonism and smacks heavily of Cold War mentality and ideological bias. China is gravely concerned over this and firmly opposes it.
“China is known to be a force for world peace, a contributor to global development and a defender of the international order,” Zhao continued. “China has never invaded any country, never launched a proxy war, and never joined or formed any military bloc. We are committed to the path of peaceful development. We aim to build a community with a shared future for mankind. We have advanced high-quality Belt and Road cooperation and put forward the Global Development Initiative and the Global Security Initiative, which are being implemented. All of those are public goods provided by China to help the international community deal with major issues on peace and development. People of the world see clearly that China presents valuable opportunities for world peace and development. It does not pose ‘systemic challenges,’ as wrongly purported by NATO.
