Nato concerned by China’s ‘rapid and opaque’ military buildup, says Blinken - The Guardian

Nato allies are acrophobic astir China’s accelerated and opaque subject buildup and its practice with Russia, and discussed factual ways to code the challenges posed by Beijing, US caput of authorities Antony Blinken has said.

“The members of our confederation stay acrophobic by the PRC’s [People’s Republic of China] coercive policies, by its usage of disinformation, by its rapid, opaque subject buildup, including its practice with Russia,” Blinken told a quality league connected Wednesday aft a two-day gathering of overseas ministers from the defence alliance.

“But we besides stay committed to maintaining a constructive dialog with China wherever we tin and we invited opportunities to enactment unneurotic connected communal challenges.”

Blinken’s remarks came aft Moscow said Russian and Chinese strategical warplanes, including Tupolev-95 long-range “Bear” bombers, conducted associated patrols implicit the Sea of Japan and East China Sea and US state South Korea said it had scrambled combatant jets arsenic 2 Chinese and six Russian warplanes entered its aerial defence zone.

They besides came aft a Pentagon study said China would astir apt person a stockpile of 1,500 atomic warheads by 2035 astatine its existent atomic buildup pace, underscoring mounting US concerns astir Beijing’s intentions for its expanding arsenal.

China and Russia alarmed the United States and its allies by announcing a “no limits” strategical concern with Russia successful February, conscionable days earlier Russian forces invaded Ukraine.

South Korea and its neighbour Japan person since developed person ties to Nato, attending the June Nato acme arsenic observers and South Korean firms shipped armaments to Russian neighbour and Nato subordinate Poland this year.

Blinken said that portion Nato continues to beryllium focused connected maintaining unified enactment for Ukraine, members besides privation to boost the alliance’s resilience by considering caller challenges, including those posed by China.

“What we talked astir contiguous is, again, making definite that we are moving to accommodate successful factual ways to conscionable the challenge,” Blinken said without elaborating.

The United States and its allies recognize that determination is simply a contention to signifier the satellite beyond the acold warfare divisions

“There’s a designation that there’s besides successful galore ways, what Europeans telephone a systemic rivalry betwixt China and galore of our countries,” Blinken said. “But there’s besides a designation that wherever possible, we person to find ways to cooperate connected the truly large issues.”