Signage for the NATO Summit at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center during the NATO summit in Washington, DC, US, on Tuesday, July 9, 2024. Joe Biden and NATO's 31 other leaders had hoped their summit would celebrate fresh unity against Russia's Vladimir Putin, send a warning to China and prove the alliance is as strong as ever in its 75th year, but the three days of pageantry will be overshadowed by domestic turmoil across the alliance. Photographer: Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg The wording of the draft could change before the final version is released Thursday. NATO’s 2022 Strategic Concept document officially labeled Beijing a “systemic challenge” for the first time, replacing a previous document that made no mention of China. China’s embassy in Washington didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Read More: US Allies Say China Is Developing Attack Drones for Russia
US officials have said China is holding off directly providing weapons and artillery, something that would signal an unprecedented escalation and almost certainly trigger more forceful action — such as sanctions — against the world’s second-biggest economy.
Still, European capitals were alarmed by reports this month that Chinese and Russian companies are developing an attack drone similar to an Iranian model deployed in Ukraine, Bloomberg reported earlier.
The push from NATO shows a growing consensus between the US and its partners that Beijing represents a threat not just in Asia, but also to European security through its support for Russia. In recent years, European capitals from Berlin to London, Prague and Vilnius have hardened their stance on China.
Bloomberg also reported in April that Beijing was providing Russia with satellite imagery for military purposes, microelectronics and machine tools for tanks, as well as a swath of technologies used in weapons or needed to produce them.
Back in May, former UK Defense Secretary Grant Shapps provoked a tiff with Washington when he suggested that China was working to provide Russia with lethal aid. US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said that to date, the US hadn’t seen China providing weapons directly to Russia.