NATO's eastward expansion into the Asia-Pacific region goes beyond the concept of collective self-defense enshrined in the UN Charter, the Chinese embassy in Japan said Monday.
"[NATO's eastward expansion] violates the provisions of the UN Charter on regional agreements and the development of friendly international relations, which introduces destructive factors into regional and global security," the embassy said in a statement commenting on the recent NATO summit.
"NATO is positioning itself as a regional organization, but is destroying the self-imposed limits of its geographical scope. NATO claims to be a defensive alliance, but constantly encourages its members to increase military spending and expand the boundaries of its power," the statement read.
The embassy added that NATO claims to protect the rules-based international order, but ignores international law and basic norms of international relations, interferes in the internal affairs of other countries, engages in wars and "propagates false views of security concerns in order to sow chaos in the world."
The two-day NATO summit was held from July 11-12 in Vilnius, Lithuania. It was attended by all allied heads of state and government, as well as NATO's four Asia-Pacific partners, known as the AP4 — Australia, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea. It was the second time the AP4 had participated in NATO's annual top-level event since last year's Madrid summit.
The summit communique stated that China's policies pose a challenge to NATO's interests, security and values, but that the alliance remains open to engagement with Beijing.