BEIJING, February 16. /TASS/. Beijing is deeply concerned and protests over the reference to China in NATO documents as a challenge to the alliance, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said at a briefing on Thursday.
"We have repeatedly pointed out that NATO in the so-called new strategic concept ignores facts, calls black white, and persists in wrongly positioning China as a systemic challenge," he said in reply to a TASS request to comment on NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg's reference to China as a challenge to the alliance, voiced following a meeting of NATO defense ministers in Brussels. "China is seriously concerned about this and strongly opposes it," Wang Wenbin added.
The diplomat also said that NATO was "denigrating China's foreign policy," "making irresponsible remarks" about China's military development and "provoking confrontation."
"China is a good opportunity for peaceful global development, not some systemic challenge made up by NATO," Wang Wenbin said. He noted that the alliance, which positioned itself as a regional defense organization, "continues to break into new regions, fuel conflicts everywhere and create tensions."
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Wednesday after a meeting of the alliance's defense ministers in Brussels that the bloc's defense chiefs had agreed on new NATO defense planning guidelines that took into account the challenges posed by China.