NATO condemns China as a “key enabler” of Russia’s war in Ukraine

In NATO's harshest criticism of China yet, the military coalition called Beijing a “crucial supporter” of Russia in the continuing war in Ukraine and expressed concern concerning the country's nuclear arsenal and “systemic challenges” to the coalition's security.

“The People's Republic of China has become a key supporter of Russia's war against Ukraine through its so-called 'No Limits' partnership and its large-scale support of the Russian defense industry.” A NATO communiqué said on Wednesdayon the second day of a summit in Washington to have fun the seventy fifth anniversary of the^th Anniversary.

The coalition also called on Beijing to “cease all material and political support for the Russian war effort.” Specifically, it mentioned the transfer of “dual-use materials such as weapons components, equipment and raw materials that serve as inputs to the Russian defense sector.” This is NATO's first explicit accusation that Xi Jinping's government is providing military assistance to Moscow.

“It is the first time that NATO allies have expressed this so clearly in an agreed document,” NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said in a speech on Wednesday. “This cannot continue without China's interests and reputation suffering as a result.”

NATO's support for non-member Ukraine has been deeply rooted because the starting of the Russian invasion, as Moscow is viewed by many as a possible threat to Europe's overall security.

Beijing has previously repeatedly denied supplying weapons to Russia within the war in Ukraine. But the 2 countries have maintained close trade ties throughout the conflict, at the same time as Moscow finds itself increasingly disconnected from the West and even subject to sanctions. A CNBC evaluation last yr found that Moscow was sourcing semiconductors and other advanced Western technologies on the time through intermediaries, including China.

Earlier this week, Beijing began joint military exercises with Russia's close ally Belarus at a training ground just a number of kilometers from the Polish border, the Belarusian Defense Ministry said in a Google translation. Telegram postThe territory of Belarus previously served as a launching pad for the Russian invasion of neighboring Ukraine.

On the primary anniversary of the Ukraine war in February 2023, China – which a month later successfully used the goodwill it acquired as a trading partner to broker a reconciliation between arch-enemies Iran and Saudi Arabia – proposed a peace framework for the conflict between Moscow and Kyiv. This, like Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's peace plan and Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin's recent conditions for starting diplomatic negotiations, has up to now found no traction.

Earlier this week, China was the third stop on the world tour of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, a key ally of Putin, who presented his self-proclaimed “peace mission” to resolve the conflict in Ukraine. After visiting Ukraine and Russia, Orban met with Xi in Beijing and praised China as “Key performance” to end hostilities.

After years of velvet-hand diplomacy and viewing China as a distant problem, NATO said on Wednesday that Beijing “continues to pose a systemic challenge to Euro-Atlantic security,” underscoring alleged disinformation emanating from the world's second-largest economy and its activities in outer space and cyberspace.

Back in March, NATO members the United States and Great Britain accused China of a years-long cyberespionage campaign against politicians, companies and journalists. The practices revealed “China's ongoing and brazen efforts to undermine our country's cybersecurity and target Americans and our innovation,” said FBI Director Christopher Wray. said then.

In response, the Chinese embassy in the UK condemned Britain's “malicious action”. “The UK's claim that China is responsible for malicious cyber campaigns against Britain is completely unfounded and constitutes a malicious slander,” it said at the time.

NATO also raised the alarm about China’s alleged nuclear ambitions.

“The People's Republic of China continues to rapidly expand and diversify its nuclear arsenal with more warheads and a greater number of sophisticated delivery systems. We call on the People's Republic of China to engage in discussions on strategic risk reduction and promote stability through transparency,” said the NATO statement, warning that allies should simultaneously raise their “shared awareness” and step up their preparations to protect against China's “coercive tactics and efforts to divide the Alliance.”

The Federation of American Scientists estimates that China In March, it had a total stockpile of 500 warheads – just 9 percent of Russia's arsenal, which has the largest nuclear capabilities after taking over the reserves of the former Soviet Union.

“China is building up its nuclear arsenal faster than any other country,” said Hans Kristensen, associate senior fellow on the Stockholm International Peach Research Institute. back in Junewhen the institute released its annual publication analyzing the world's nuclear powers.

“China's nuclear weapons stockpile is anticipated to proceed to grow over the subsequent decade, and the variety of Chinese intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) is more likely to match and even surpass the variety of Russian or American nuclear weapons,” SPRI noted last month.

CNBC contacted the Chinese Foreign Ministry. In a scathing response, China's mission to the European Union said that the NATO statement “builds relations between China and Russia, undermines and reshapes the rules-based international order” and is “filled with Cold War mentality and bellicose rhetoric”.

It continued: “The paragraphs on China are a provocation and contain obvious lies and slander. We firmly reject and condemn these allegations. We have lodged a serious grievance with NATO.”

NATO's comments to China come after the leaders of several Indo-Pacific countries – including Australia, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea – attended the NATO summit in Washington, according to Reuters, continuing a practice that began after Russia's invasion of Ukraine.