China strongly opposes NATO's Washington summit declaration: spokesperson

BEIJING, July 11 (Xinhua) -- China deplores and strongly opposes the Washington summit declaration of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), which hypes up tensions in the Asia-Pacific region and is full of bellicose remarks with a Cold War mentality, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said Thursday.

Its content related to China is filled with bias, smearing and provocations, said spokesperson Lin Jian, adding that China has lodged solemn representations with NATO.

Lin said that to make a case about NATO's necessity, the United States and NATO trumpeted the "glory" and "solidarity" of the alliance and glossed over it as "an organization for peace" before the summit. That, however, does not hide the fact that NATO is a vestige of the Cold War and a product of bloc confrontation and bloc politics, the spokesperson added.

Lin said that NATO forces bombed Yugoslavia for 78 days in the name of "preventing further humanitarian disaster," and the tragedies of Afghanistan and Libya make it clear that wherever NATO shows up, turmoil and chaos will follow. NATO's so-called security is more often than not built on others' insecurity, and a lot of its security anxieties are self-made. The "success" and "strength" of which NATO boasts mean enormous danger to the world, he added.

"To create imaginary enemies to justify its existence and act out of area is NATO's go-to tactic," Lin said, adding that to falsely picture China as a "systemic challenge" and vilify China's domestic and foreign policies is a case in point.

"On Ukraine, NATO insists that China is responsible, which is ill-motivated and makes no sense," Lin said, adding that China's objective and just position on Ukraine and the constructive role China has played are widely recognized by the international community. NATO has been spreading disinformation created by the United States and blatantly smearing China to undermine China's relations with Europe and hamper China-Europe cooperation, he said.

"To this day, there's still no end in sight for the Ukraine crisis. Who exactly is fueling the flames? Who exactly is 'enabling' the conflict? The international community is not blind," said Lin.

China urges NATO to reflect on the root causes of the crisis and NATO's own behavior, listen to the voice for good from the international community and contribute to de-escalation, instead of shifting the blame onto others, he added.

Lin said NATO's reach into the Asia-Pacific, strengthening of its military and security ties with China's neighboring countries and U.S. allies, and collaboration with the U.S. side to implement the "Indo-Pacific Strategy" harm China's interests and disrupt peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific. This has already been questioned and rejected by regional countries, the spokesperson said.

China urges NATO to discard the Cold War mentality, bloc confrontation and zero-sum approach, form the right perception of China, stop interfering in China's internal affairs and vilifying China, and stop disrupting China-Europe relations, he added.

Lin said that NATO should not "bring instability to the Asia-Pacific after it has done so to Europe."

China will firmly uphold its own sovereignty, security and development interests, and through its own development and cooperation with other countries, inject more stability and positive energy into world peace and stability, he added.