Beijing: According to China's permanent representative to the UN, NATO is "the real troublemaker" that has fully embraced "Cold War thinking and ideological prejudice" as it continues to incite tensions around the world.

Zhang Jun reacted angrily to the NATO communiqué from the Vilnius summit earlier this week that accused China of pursuing "coercive policies" that go against the interests of the alliance. Furthermore, it asserted that Beijing employs a wide range of instruments to broaden its influence internationally and jeopardise the security of the alliance.

The representative rejected this, calling it "slander" and the "smearing" of China, asserting that the US-led military bloc is still stuck in a Cold War mindset.

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While claiming to be a regional organisation, NATO, he recalled, has violated this principle by moving into the Asia-Pacific region and "bringing more negative impacts and destructive factors on regional and global security."

Despite NATO's claims to be a defensive alliance, according to Zhang, it encourages its members to up their military spending, continue to cross borders, and instigate conflict.

Despite the fact that the bloc "has repeatedly violated international law..., interfered in other countries' internal affairs, provoked many wars, bombed diplomatic facilities, [and] killed innocent civilians," he continued, the bloc presents itself as the defender of the "rules-based international order." 

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Zhang cautioned that while China doesn't start trouble, it is also not scared of it and that Beijing will steadfastly oppose any intrusion on China's territorial integrity and national interests.

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Zhang's comments follow a warning from China's foreign ministry to NATO not to establish the first liaison office of its kind in the Asia-Pacific region by setting up shop in Japan. Tokyo did give the impression that it was considering the idea, but the NATO communiqué made no mention of it. Nikkei Asia claims that the pertinent statement was removed from the document's final draught and that a decision was postponed until later.