China slams NATO for strategic concept referring to China: FM spokesperson

BEIJING, June 30 (Xinhua) -- China on Thursday expressed serious concern and firm opposition to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)'s newly published strategic concept document, saying it is full of Cold War mentality and ideological bias and sticks to the wrong positioning of a systemic challenge to China.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian made the remarks at a daily news briefing when asked to comment on the document. He told the press that the document distorts facts, smears China's foreign policy, makes irresponsible remarks on China's normal military development and national defense policy, encourages confrontation and conflicts, and is full of Cold War mentality and ideological bias.

"China is gravely concerned and firmly opposed to this," said Zhao.

China is always a builder of world peace, a contributor to global development and a guardian of international order, Zhao said, adding that China has never invaded any country, never waged a proxy war, nor joined or formed any military bloc.

"We are committed to the path of peaceful development, promoting the building of a community with a shared future for humanity, and advancing high-quality Belt and Road cooperation. We have proposed and implemented the Global Development Initiative and the Global Security Initiative, and provided a large number of public goods for the international community to address major issues including peace and development," said the spokesperson.

"People all over the world are aware of the great opportunities brought by China's peaceful development. This is definitely not the systemic challenges described by NATO," Zhao said, adding that NATO itself, in contrast, is the systemic challenge to world peace and stability.

He said NATO claims to be a regional and defensive organization, but in fact, it has been transgressing regions and fields, constantly waging wars and killing civilians, and now NATO has extended its reach to the Asia-Pacific region in an attempt to export the Cold War mentality.

"The Asia-Pacific region is a pacesetter of peace and stability and a promising land for cooperation and development. Any act that harms peace and stability and undermines unity and cooperation in the region will be jointly opposed by the Chinese people and the people of Asia-Pacific countries, and is doomed to fail," said Zhao.

Zhao stressed that hyping up the so-called "China threat" is completely futile. NATO should immediately stop making groundless accusations and provocation against China, abandon the outdated Cold War mentality and zero-sum game mindset, quit the wrong obsession with force and seeking "absolute security," and stop dangerous acts that disrupt Europe and the Asia-Pacific.

"What they should do is to make tangible contributions to the security and stability of Europe and the world at large," Zhao added.