Xinhua News Review: NATO's manipulation of the "New Cold War" in the Asia Pacific region is unpopular with China | NATO | Current Review
BEIJING, July 13th (Xinhua) -- NATO's manipulation of the "New Cold War" in the Asia Pacific region is unpopular
Xinhua News Agency reporter Xie Binbin and Ye Shuhong
In the new version of NATO's strategic concept document released last year, China was positioned as a "systemic challenge", but this year it has repeated the same old tune. At the just concluded Vilnius summit, NATO once again made baseless accusations and provocative remarks against China in the communique, deliberately exaggerating the so-called "China threat". Under the leadership of the United States, this monster with Cold War genes is increasingly becoming a military tool for the United States to maintain its global hegemony. Its black hand extending to the Asia Pacific region will undoubtedly pose a serious threat to regional security, stability, and world peace.
The NATO summit communique on China is confusing right and wrong, full of Cold War thinking and ideological bias. More than 30 years after the end of the Cold War, NATO, as a product of the Cold War, still holds a zero sum game and confrontational thinking, ignoring the call for peace, development, cooperation, and win-win in the international community. It moves against the trend and starts a historical reversal. NATO claims to be a regional organization, but breaks through the geographical scope stipulated in its own treaty and accelerates its eastward expansion into the Asia Pacific region; Self proclaimed as a defensive alliance, but inciting member states to continuously increase military spending, constantly expand power beyond borders, and provoke confrontation in the Asia Pacific region; Claiming to defend the "rule-based international order", but ignoring international law and basic norms of international relations, interfering in the internal affairs of other countries, getting involved in multiple wars, selling security anxiety, fearing that the world will not be chaotic, obsessed with "small circles" and group politics, strengthening ideological opposition and camp confrontation.
NATO's accusation of China in the communique constitutes a "systemic challenge" and distorts the truth. China is a builder of world peace, a contributor to global development, a maintainer of international order, and a provider of public goods. China firmly upholds the international system with the United Nations at its core, the international order based on international law, and the basic norms of international relations based on the purposes and principles of the United Nations Charter. In terms of peace and security issues, China is the country with the best record. China has never invaded other countries, never engaged in proxy wars, never carried out military actions globally, never threatened other countries with force, never exported ideology, and never interfered in the internal affairs of other countries. China does not form or participate in military groups, and opposes the use of force or the threat of force in international relations. On the other hand, in recent years, the United States has vigorously promoted the so-called "Indo Pacific strategy", engaged in so-called "great power competition", strengthened the "Five Eyes Alliance", promoted the "Quadrilateral Mechanism", pieced together trilateral security partnerships, and attempted to build an alliance and partnership system in the Asia Pacific region with the main purpose of containing China. Behind its push for NATO's involvement in the Asia Pacific, there is a hidden evil intention of containment and maintaining its own hegemony.
NATO's involvement in the Asia Pacific region is unpopular and destined not to succeed. The long-term prosperity and stability of the Asia Pacific region rely on mutual respect, open cooperation, mutual benefit and win-win cooperation among regional countries, and proper resolution of differences. NATO's eastward expansion into the Asia Pacific region will only stir up regional tensions, trigger factional confrontation, and even lead to a new Cold War. Most countries in the region have a very clear attitude on relevant issues: they oppose piecing together various military groups in the region, do not welcome NATO to extend its tentacles to Asia, do not accept replicating factional confrontation to Asia, and do not allow any cold war or hot war to repeat in Asia. NATO related movements have aroused high vigilance among Asian countries. Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen warned that the trend of NATO's "Asia Pacific" is worrying. Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno, the rotating chairman of ASEAN, said that ASEAN will never be interested in becoming a competitive agent for major powers. Former Australian Prime Minister Paul Keating wrote that Asia has only gradually achieved development after overcoming long-term poverty, and if NATO expands into Asia, its development prospects will be affected. "NATO exporting this malicious poison to Asia is like bringing a plague to the local area."
Faced with NATO's involvement in the Asia Pacific region, not only are many countries in the region dissatisfied, but there is also significant controversy within NATO. Authoritative figures have clearly pointed out that expanding NATO's "geopolitical scope and coverage" would be a huge mistake.
Peace, development, cooperation, and win-win are the trends of the times. Any reverse action against the current will end in failure. Asian countries welcome efforts to achieve success together, but do not welcome attempts to create trouble specifically. Urge NATO to immediately abandon its outdated Cold War mentality and zero sum game theory, abandon its erroneous practices of superstition in military force and seeking absolute security, abandon its dangerous actions of disrupting Europe and the Asia Pacific region, and not find excuses for its continued expansion. Instead, it should play a constructive role in world peace and stability.
