NATO a ‘warmonger’, China says

Beijing goes ballistic in the Indo-Pacific with nuclear submarine; DeepSeek plans to build its own inference chip

Observing China is the essential newsletter to understand the UK-PRC relationship, explained in the context of global developments.

This image was generated using Artificial Intelligence.

Earlier this week, a typhoon churning over the People’s Republic of China (PRC) caused 60,000 people to be evacuated from their homes, prompting the country’s leadership to call for an ‘all out rescue’ effort. As these efforts were underway, facing warnings of the incoming Typhoon Bavi, leaders of member countries in the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) met for an annual summit in Ankara. A tacit agreement was reportedly made between some to omit mentioning the World Cup red card fiasco to the responsible alliance member, who also happens to be its largest benefactor – the United States (US).

On more serious matters, Mark Rutte, Secretary General of NATO, stated that the alliance cannot afford to be ‘naive’ about the PRC, in reference to the recent missile test Beijing conducted only on Monday (see 2.1 below).

The PRC keeps a watchful eye on NATO. For a long time, the alliance did not solicit emotive analysis from Beijing, although the tone has hardened in the past few years, with an op-ed from state media published just yesterday claiming it is ‘a Cold War relic that should have long since been consigned to the dustbin of history’.

Beijing’s concern is whether the alliance may seek to expand its remit to the Indo-Pacific, an anxiety frequently mentioned in international-facing state media. NATO has signed Individually Tailored Partnership Programmes with Japan, and other partnerships with Australia and New Zealand, which the PRC sees as evidence of the alliance ‘stirring up conflict and instability’ on its doorstep.

As the NATO leaders agreed upon a £37 billion missile acquisition, the PRC and Russia held their annual joint military drills in the waters and airspace off the coast of Qingdao.

Welcome back to Observing China.