China Accuses NATO of Labeling Beijing 'Accomplice' in Russia, Ukraine War

The Global Times, a Chinese state-run media outlet, recently accused NATO of designating Beijing as an "accomplice" in the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine.

In an op-ed published on Wednesday, the Global Times wrote that recent "rhetoric" by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg "sounds like he attempted to label China as Russia's 'accomplice,'" in the Russian war against Ukraine.

"The West has fallen into extreme insanity, and this is quite sick. This is also a symptom of the growing abnormality of the international community under the coercion of the U.S. and its allies," the op-ed said.

The "rhetoric" discussed by the Global Times op-ed came during a press conference on Tuesday when Stoltenberg called on China to join other NATO countries in condemning Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

"China should join the rest of the world condemning strongly the brutal invasion of Ukraine by Russia," Stoltenberg said. "So China has an obligation as a member of the UN Security Council to actually support and uphold international law. And the Russian invasion of Ukraine is a blatant violation of international law so we call on [China] to clearly condemn the invasion and of course not support Russia. And we are closely monitoring any signs of support from China to Russia."

In addition to accusing NATO of labeling China as an "accomplice," the Global Times further criticized the treaty organization saying that it is a "puppet of the U.S." The Global Times also spoke about its position on the conflict between Russia and Ukraine saying "there is no absolute right and wrong, as the geopolitics, history and culture between them are too complicated."

"Their tensions are a difficult problem to solve. In this context, portraying their military conflict as good versus evil is not rational and detrimental to address it," the Global Times wrote.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine over two weeks ago, China has yet to take a concrete stance on the ongoing war. Earlier this month, China's Red Cross announced that it was sending humanitarian aid to Ukraine, which was followed by China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi saying that Beijing and Moscow had a "rock solid" relationship.

However, on Monday, China's Ambassador to Ukraine, Fan Xianrong, said that China "will respect the path chosen by Ukrainians because this is the sovereign right of every nation."

This statement by Fan was supported by China's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian, who said, "China supports all efforts that are conducive to easing the situation in Ukraine and a political settlement."

Newsweek reached out to NATO for comment but did not receive a response in time for publication.