NATO cites China as top threat, Beijing cries 'ideological prejudices’

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Putin's brutality has unified Europe: Former U.S. ambassador to NATO

Kurt Volker, former U.S. ambassador to NATO, discusses the recent developments with Finnish and Swedish membership to NATO.

Beijing condemned assertions made this week by NATO after the military alliance listed China as a chief concern to global security, and on Thursday accused NATO leaders of exhibiting "ideological prejudices."

For the first time, China found itself in NATO's sites after the alliance met in Madrid to discuss its defense posture and affirmed that Beijing’s "ambitions and coercive policies challenge our interests, security and values."

"The so-called NATO’s new Strategic Concept ignores facts, distorts the truth … vilifies China's foreign policy, makes irresponsible statements about China’s natural military development and its national defense policy," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said a scathing retort Thursday, first reported Russian media outlets. 

BEIJING, CHINA - DECEMBER 20: Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian attends a news conference on December 20, 2021 in Beijing, China.  ((Photo by VCG/VCG via Getty Images))

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The spokesman accused NATO of promoting "confrontation and conflict" and said, "It is filled with the Cold War mentality and ideological prejudices."

NATO this week agreed to update its Strategic Concept – which serves as the alliance’s guiding principle and was last updated in 2010 – amid Russia’s war in Ukraine and growing aggression from Beijing in the Pacific. 

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg pointed to China and Russia’s growing relationship despite Moscow’s illegal invasion of Ukraine as a major sticking point for the alliance. 

Chinese naval fleet passes through naval mine threat area during the China-Russia 'Joint Sea-2021' military drill near the Peter the Great Gulf on October 15, 2021 in Russia. (Sun Zifa/China News Service via Getty Images)

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"We do not regard China as an adversary," he told reporters before the summit kicked off Tuesday. "But we are disappointed by the fact that China has not been able to condemn the Russian invasion of Ukraine, that China is spreading many of the false narratives.

"China and Russia are more close now than ever before," he added. 

The soon-to-be 32-member alliance also met with partners of non-NATO nations like Ukraine, Romania, Georgia, South Korea, Japan and Australia to discuss what they perceive to be a growing threat from Russia and China.  

The Strategic Concept, approved by the member nations, said Russia "is the most significant and direct threat to Allies’ security," but noted that Russia and China’s burgeoning relationship remains a top concern.

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NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, U.S. President Joe Biden, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, front row from left, pose with other leaders for a group photo during the NATO summit in Madrid, Spain, on Wednesday, June 29, 2022.  (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)

"The deepening strategic partnership between the People’s Republic of China and the Russian Federation and their mutually reinforcing attempts to undercut the rules-based international order run counter to our values and interests," the document noted.

NATO leaders said they remain committed to engaging with China on top issues like trade and climate change.