Nato discusses Russia, China, climate change

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Reuters
Reuters

It said it would respond to Russia’s growing nuclear arsenal and called on Iran to stop all ballistic missile activities.

By Agencies

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Published: Mon 14 Jun 2021, 11:29 PM

Nato leaders on Monday agreed to step up their collective defence “against all threats, from all directions”, according to their final statement.

Nato said it would adapt to climate-related security challenges, called on Russia to drop its designation of two allies — the United States and the Czech Republic — as “unfriendly countries” and committed funds to the Kabul airport.


It said it would respond to Russia’s growing nuclear arsenal and called on Iran to stop all ballistic missile activities.

In a first for the Western military alliance, it said China poses a constant security challenge, is trying to undermine world order and is working on nuclear missile development at a worrisome pace.

In a summit statement, the leaders said that China’s goals and “assertive behaviour present systemic challenges to the rules-based international order and to areas relevant to alliance security”. The warning to China comes as President Joe Biden has stepped up his effort to rally allies to speak in a more unified voice about China’s human rights record, its trade practices and its military’s increasingly assertive behaviour that has unnerved US allies in the Pacific.

While the 30 heads of state and government avoided calling China a rival, they expressed concern about what they said were its “coercive policies”, the opaque ways it is modernising its armed forces and its use of disinformation.

They called on Beijing to uphold its international commitments and to act responsibly in the international system.


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