'China is a threat to our security,' NATO deputy chief tells Euronews

Deputy Secretary General Mircea Geoană discusses the wars in Russia and Gaza at the 75th anniversary summit of the alliance.

Transcript

00:00China is a decisive enabler of Russia's war against Ukraine, NATO allies have said at

00:06their summit in Washington to mark 75 years of the defensive alliance.

00:11The group has hardened its stance on Beijing over China's trade with Russia, accusing it

00:16of supplying Moscow with so-called dual-use goods, components that support Putin's war

00:21machine.

00:22Deputy Secretary General of NATO Marcia Giovanna tells Euronews that China is a threat to Europe.

00:28A lot of Russia's reconstitution of its armed forces is coming via China.

00:34So China is a major enabler, the enabler of Russia's war against Ukraine.

00:40We see Iran, we see North Korea, we see a coordination among these countries and Belarus

00:44and a few others.

00:46So we can look at the situation as we want, but the reality is that there is a pattern

00:56of aggressiveness basically fueling the war of Russia in Ukraine.

01:00So this means that China is a threat to our security.

01:03It means that, of course, they put challenges in many other places, but for us, with war

01:09in Europe, China, Iran, Korea helping Russia so dramatically in waging war against Ukraine,

01:17against European security, makes China, you know, a partner of Russia that is seen by

01:23NATO with more severity than before.

01:26China has responded essentially saying this is a very provocative language.

01:30Where will this lead to?

01:31I have to say that the language that we adopted is also, you know, a more clear language,

01:36but also a careful language.

01:38We're not declaring China as our enemy, it is not.

01:42We are, they are a serious challenge to European security.

01:45And this is a fact.

01:48And of course, the fact that there's no limit partnership between Russia and China is deepening

01:52and becoming more and more complex together with the other countries like Iran and North

01:57Korea is adding these issues.

02:00Of course, you have seen, not seen in our statement, in our final declaration, any,

02:05you know, direct actions by NATO because we are a security organization.

02:10Well, we're seeing in Gaza children having their arms and legs amputated with no anesthetic,

02:15starvation, dozens of children being killed every single day, and no criticism from NATO

02:22countries, despite the fact that they say they promote the rules based system.

02:26Is there double standards in this?

02:28As NATO, we are basically not involved in this conflict.

02:32And that's why as an institution, we are relatively, you know, moderate in what we say, but we

02:38see allies, all calling from the US all the way to a few allies that have been recognizing

02:45the state of Palestine in various forms and shades, basically asking for one thing.

02:51Let's this war stop.

02:53Let's have, you know, some form of cessation of hostilities, exchange, bring the hostages

02:59back and try to avoid escalation in the Middle East, which will be also another big, big

03:04trouble for us.