China and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) held their eighth security policy dialogue in Beijing on Wednesday, signaling a continuation of military-level discussions amid raging global conflicts.
“The two sides exchanged views on defense exchanges between China and NATO, international and regional situations, and other issues of common concern,” China’s military said in a statement on Wednesday.
The Chinese Defense Ministry announced the meeting, co-chaired by officials from China’s Central Military Commission’s Office for International Military Cooperation and NATO’s International Military Staff’s Cooperative Security Division, focusing on defense exchanges and the current international and regional security landscape.
“Topics covered at the meeting included: the global and regional security landscapes, with emphasis on Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine; maritime security; and issues of common concern,” NATO said in a statement on Wednesday.
The Chinese side was represented by Major General Yao Qin, deputy director of the Office for International Military Cooperation, and NATO was represented by Major General Dacian-Tiberiu Șerban, director of the Cooperative Security Division.
The Russia-Ukraine war, now in its third year, has been at the heart of tensions between NATO and China. China hasn’t officially backed Russia’s war in Ukraine but has provided economic assistance to the Kremlin.
NATO has grown increasingly concerned about the growing alignment between China and Russia.
“China and Russia have nothing like NATO. It is why they always try to undermine our unity,” NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on January 30 during a press conference.
This dialogue took place after the last military-level talks in February 2023 at NATO’s headquarters in Brussels and follows the first video conference talks in a year and a half between the heads of the U.S. and Chinese armies in December.
The ongoing communication reflects a longstanding engagement between China and NATO, initiated in 2010 but interrupted in 2016 due to several factors, including reforms within the Chinese armed forces and the impact of terror attacks in Brussels.
ANDREI PUNGOVSCHI/AFP via Getty
After a three-year hiatus, these staff-to-staff talks resumed in 2018, when both sides discussed pressing issues, including North Korea, the South China Sea dispute, and the security situation in Central Asia, with a particular focus on Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The backdrop to these discussions includes a paused initiative by NATO to establish a liaison office in Tokyo, which was part of the alliance’s strategy to deepen ties with Asia-Pacific partners.
The proposal for a NATO office in Japan faced strong opposition from China, leading to its shelving. The idea, first broached following Stoltenberg’s visit to Japan earlier last year, aimed at enhancing NATO’s dialogues in the region, The Guardian reported on July 12, 2023.
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