NATO Deems China A 'Security Threat' For First Time, Says Its Policies Challenge Western Bloc's Security

NATO has called out China for conducting "malicious" cyber operations, for its strategic partnership with Russia, rapidly expanding nuclear arsenal and its efforts to dominate key supply chains.

Chinese President Xi Jinping. (File Photo/ Getty)

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) has listed China as a "security threat" for the first time saying that Beijing's ambitions and its "coercive policies" challenge the Western bloc's "interests, security and values", media reports stated. The worlds most powerful military alliance NATO said that China is substantially building up its military forces, including nuclear weapons, bullying its neighbours including Taiwan. 

The declaration was made in NATO's new 10-year strategic blueprint, agreed to by leaders at a summit in Spain recently.

According to a report by Sydney Herald, the alliance has called out China for conducting "malicious" cyber operations, for its strategic partnership with Russia, rapidly expanding nuclear arsenal and its efforts to dominate key supply chains.

NATO also criticised China for monitoring and controlling its own citizens through advanced technology and spreading Russian lies and disinformation. "China is not our adversary, but we must be clear-eyed about the serious challenges it represents," Aljazeera quoted NATO's Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg as saying. 

Meanwhile, China reacted to being labelled a threat by calling the Western alliance a "Cold War remnant" and a source of instability that is "smearing" Beijing's international reputation. "NATO's so-called new strategic concept document disregards facts, confuses black and white and smears Beijing's foreign policy," China Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said.

During the summit, China challenges NATO and Beijing's closer ties to Moscow are against Western interest, the military alliance pointed out during the summit in Spain's Madrid adding that despite noting threat, they remain open to constructive engagement with China with a view to safeguard the alliance's security interest.