NATO urged to stop spreading provocative remarks against China: spokesperson

BEIJING, April 11 (Xinhua) -- NATO should immediately stop spreading disinformation and provocative remarks targeting China, and abandon the confrontational approach of drawing ideological lines, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Monday, adding that China has lodged solemn representations with NATO for many times.

Spokesperson Zhao Lijian made the statement at a regular news briefing in response to NATO secretary general's groundless accusations and smearing against China.

Zhao said that, for some time now, in disregard of facts, the head of NATO has been making false remarks on China's foreign policy, hyping up the so-called "China threat" theory and has recently engaged in coercion against China.

"China is strongly dissatisfied and firmly opposed to this, and has lodged solemn representations with NATO for many times," he said.

As the world's largest military alliance and a product of the Cold War, NATO has long adhered to its old-fashioned security concept, engaged in camp confrontation in the old Cold War way, and has become a tool for individual countries to seek hegemony, Zhao said.

NATO claims to be a "defensive organization," but it is, in fact, constantly creating confrontations and disturbances, said the spokesperson, adding that the organization demands that other countries abide by the basic norms of international relations, yet wages war and indiscriminate bombing against sovereign states, killing and displacing innocent civilians.

NATO is clearly a military organization in the North Atlantic, but in recent years it has been throwing its weight around and stirring up conflicts in the Asia-Pacific region, Zhao noted.

"NATO continues to break through geographical and territorial boundaries and advocates a new Cold War of bloc confrontation. The international community should be on high alert and firmly oppose this," he added.

Zhao emphasized that China has always been a builder of world peace, a contributor to global development and a defender of the international order, and will unswervingly follow the path of peaceful development. China's development means opportunities for the world, instead of a threat to anyone, he said.

NATO has disrupted Europe. It should stop trying to destabilize Asia and the whole world, Zhao said.