‘Bullying’ China behaving badly: NATO boss backs Australia

Jens Stoltenberg has issued a blunt message to China that NATO member countries will stand together and back Australia.

Jens Stoltenberg at NATO headquarters in Brussels on Tuesday. Picture: AFP

NATO has issued a blunt message to China that its member countries will stand together and back Australia to counter Chinese bullying and bad behaviour.

In a boost for Australia’s stance to challenge China over the origins of coronavirus, and the resulting trade war, NATO secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg said on Tuesday night that “China behaved very badly against Australia’’.

He vowed that NATO’s 30 member countries would show solidarity with Australia because “we are like minded countries’’. While Australia is not a member of NATO, it has contributed to some of its programs, including in Afghanistan.

Mr Stoltenberg has encouraged countries like Australia, New Zealand, Japan and South Korea to be involved as NATO broadens its approach to help counter China’s rise and Russia’s aggression.

He said when attacks are made on the rules-based international order — “which has served Australia, NATO allies, and many other countries so well over so many decades’’— the alliance has to stand up.

“Just by strengthening the partnership, we are sending a clear message to countries like for instance China which is actually undermining these rules-based order,” he told a virtual press conference from Brussels attended by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

“I also think it is important that we demonstrate that we are able to stand together when we see China trying to bully countries all over the world.

“They have behaved very badly against Australia after Australia has asked for an independent investigations to the originals of the coronavirus.’’

Mr Stoltenberg related a personal anecdote about China’s retaliatory aggression in 2010 when he was Norwegian prime minister and Norway’s Nobel Peace Prize Committee awarded the peace prize to Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo, who had supported the uprising in Tiananmen Square.

“China just immediately imposed a lot of heavy measures against Norway,’’ he said.

“So, this is a behaviour that just calls on all like-minded democracies to stand together. Of course we do that, as 30 Allies in NATO, but we also see the value of doing that with like-minded countries like Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea in the Asia-Pacific region.’’

Mr Stoltenberg, who visited Australia in 2019, said NATO and Australia were looking to exchange of information, and participate in different activities.

“But first of all I think we should sit down and see how we can gradually expand and strengthen our partnership,’’ he said.

Australia’s rejection of Huawei on security grounds has been a template adopted by other Five Eyes countries including the US and Britain.

But NATO is also worried about the increased Arctic military presence, not only of Russia, but of China, which declared itself a near Arctic nation in 2018.

“We have seen the increased military presence of Russia,” Mr Stoltenberg said when asked about a new cold war in the Arctic amid concerns that the melting ice is creating new security challenges.

“We also see an increased Chinese presence. We need to engage with China on many issues, including climate change.”

Mr Blinken said he was at the NATO meeting because “the United States wants to rebuild our partnerships, first and foremost, with our NATO allies’’.

He added the US wants to revitalise the alliance and bring an end to the war Afghanistan.

“Tactical decisions aside, we are united with our NATO Allies in seeking to bring a responsible end to this conflict and to remove our troops from harm’s way just as we are collectively determined to ensure that Afghanistan never again becomes a safe haven for terrorists who could threaten the United States or our allies,’’ he said.