Beijing accuses NATO of exaggerating 'China threat theory'

Beijing on Tuesday accused Nato of exaggerating the threat from China and "creating confrontation", after a vow from the Western allies to work together to counter the "systemic challenges" posed by its policies.

Nato leaders made the commitment on Monday, as US President Joe Biden renewed Washington's transatlantic ties at his first summit with the allies. In a wide statement of intent, the leaders said China's increasingly assertive actions in creating a nuclear arsenal and space and cyber warfare functions threatened the international order. Within an angry response, a statement from the Chinese mission to the European Union called for Nato to "view China's development rationally, stop exaggerating various varieties of 'China threat theory' rather than to use China's legitimate interests and legal rights as excuses for manipulating group politics (while) artificially creating confrontations".

It added that Nato's accusations were a "slander of China's calm development, a misjudgement of the international situation and its own role, and it is the continuation of a Cold War mentality and the group's political psychology at the job".

Military tensions have increased in the last year between China and rival powers like the USA and India, with flashpoints just like the Himalayan border, Taiwan and the South China Sea.

China's military budget - the next largest on the globe following the US, though still less than a third of Washington's - is defined to improve by 6.8 per cent in 2021, the finance ministry announced in March.

Beijing in addition has poured billions into its space programme in a bid to create up ground on pioneers Russia and the United States.