North Atlantic Treaty Organisation's (NATO) Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has said that China "does not share our values", which was seen in their crackdown in Hong Kong and Xinjiang and their threatening moves on Taiwan.
Speaking to reporters after meeting US President Joe Biden, Stoltenberg said: "... China will soon have the biggest economy in the world, they already have the second largest defense budget, the biggest Navy, they are investing heavily in advanced military capabilities, and they do not share our values."
"We see that in the way they crack down on democratic protests in Hong Kong, how they deal with minorities, the Uyghurs, and how they coerce neighbours and how they threaten Taiwan. So we need to stand up for the rules-based international order, and we need to work more closely with partners including in the Asia Pacific, Australia, New Zealand, South Korea and Japan," he added.
Stressing that the biggest challenge in today's world was living in a much more unpredictable world, the NATO chief said that the countries need to be prepared for a wide range of different challenges and threats at the same time.
"China coercing neighbors and investing heavily in new military capabilities. Cyber threats. We see more sophisticated and frequent cyberattacks against NATO Allies, including as we have seen here in the United States recently," he said.
"NATO is not just a military alliance, but a political-military alliance, and even when we may not take military action, our political unity matters," he also said.
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Biden and Austin will attend the meeting of the North Atlantic alliance stressing America's commitment to collective defence and the need to shape the most successful alliance in history for the needs of the future.
In announcing the president's European trip, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said Biden "will affirm the United States' commitment to NATO, transatlantic security and collective defence. The leaders from the 30 NATO nations will discuss how to reorient the alliance and ensure effective burden-sharing, she said.
( With inputs from ANI )
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