A Russian corvette enters the port of Zhanjiang during the Joint Sea-2024 China-Russia naval exercise, in Zhanjiang, China, in this still image from video released July 13, 2024. Russian Defence Ministry via Reuters

China and Russia’s naval forces on July 14 kicked off a joint exercise at a military port in southern China, official news agency Xinhua reported, days after NATO allies called Beijing a “decisive enabler” of the war in Ukraine.

The Chinese defence ministry said in a brief statement forces from both sides recently patrolled the western and northern Pacific Ocean and that the operation had nothing to do with international and regional situations and didn’t target any third party.

The exercise, which began in Guangdong province on July 14 and is expected to last until mid-July, aimed to demonstrate the capabilities of the navies in addressing security threats and preserving peace and stability globally and regionally, CCTV reported on July 13, adding it would include anti-missile exercises, sea strikes and air defence.

Xinhua News Agency reported that the Chinese and Russian naval forces carried out on-map military simulation and tactical coordination exercises after the opening ceremony in Zhanjiang.

Rising tension between NATO, China

The joint drills came on the heels of China’s latest tensions with NATO allies last week.

Also read: NATO expresses concern over deepening Russia-China ties

The sternly worded final communiqué, approved by the 32 NATO members at their summit in Washington, made clear that China is becoming a focus of the military alliance, calling Beijing a “decisive enabler” of Russia’s war against Ukraine.

NATO and their partners in the Indo-Pacific increasingly see shared security concerns coming from Russia and its Asian supporters, especially China.

In response, China accused NATO of seeking security at the expense of others and told the alliance not to bring the same “chaos” to Asia. Its foreign ministry maintained that China has a fair and objective stance on the war in Ukraine.

Also read: China tells NATO not to create chaos in Asia; rejects label of ‘enabler’ of Russia’s Ukraine war

Last week, a U.S. Coast Guard cutter on routine patrol in the Bering Sea also came across several Chinese military ships in international waters but within the U.S. exclusive economic zone, American officials said. Its crew detected three vessels approximately 200 km north of the Amchitka Pass in the Aleutian Islands, which mark a separation and linkage between the North Pacific and the Bering Sea.

Later, a fourth ship was spotted approximately 84 miles (135 kilometers) north of the Amukta Pass. The U.S. side said the Chinese naval vessels operated within international rules and norms.

Seoul:

North Korea “most strongly denounces” the declaration at the recent NATO summit, KCNA said on Saturday, citing the country’s foreign ministry spokesperson.

Leaders of NATO countries stressed a membership pledge for Ukraine and took a stronger stance on China’s support for Russia in a declaration this week at a summit in Washington.

“The “Washington Summit Declaration,” cooked up and made public on July 10, goes to prove that the U.S. and NATO, reduced to a tool for its confrontation, pose the most serious threat to the global peace and security,” North Korea’s state media KCNA quoted a foreign ministry spokesperson as saying.

North Korea’s statement added that the U.S. moves to expand military blocs with NATO countries and Asian partners, including South Korea and Japan are “the vicious root cause of seriously threatening the regional peace, extremely exacerbating the international security environment and sparking off worldwide arms race.”

The summit declaration called on China to cease all material and political support for Russia’s war effort. It also accused Iran and North Korea of fuelling Russia’s war in Ukraine by providing direct military support to Moscow.

Separately, South Korea and the United States on the sidelines of a NATO summit signed a guideline on establishing an integrated system of extended deterrence for the Korean peninsula to counter nuclear and military threats from North Korea.

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Washington:

President Volodymyr Zelensky said Thursday he was confident Ukraine would eventually join NATO after the alliance said the Russian-invaded country had an “irreversible” path to membership.

“We have strong wording regarding the irreversibility of Ukraine’s movement towards NATO. Every step truly brings us closer to membership,” Zelensky told a news conference at a NATO summit alongside the alliance’s chief Jens Stoltenberg.

“We are doing and will continue to do everything to ensure that the day comes when Ukraine is invited and becomes a NATO member, and I am confident we will achieve this,” he said.

Zelensky’s reaction was significantly warmer than a year ago at the NATO summit in Lithuania where he was visibly upset that there was not a firmer promise on membership.

NATO, formed in the Cold War, is a collective defense pact in which an attack on one ally is an attack on all.

The United States and Germany have led concerns about quickly bringing Ukraine into NATO, believing it would effectively put them at war with nuclear-armed Russia.

A declaration issued Wednesday at the 75th anniversary NATO summit in Washington said leaders supported Ukraine on “its irreversible path to full Euro-Atlantic integration, including NATO membership.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin has cited Ukraine’s NATO aspirations as a reason to attack the former Soviet republic, rejecting the idea that the country has a separate historical identity.

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China has broken with the United States and its European allies over the war in Ukraine, refusing to condemn Russia’s invasion. 
| Photo Credit: AP

China accused NATO on July 11 of seeking security at the expense of others and told the alliance not to bring the same “chaos” to Asia.

The statement by a Foreign Ministry spokesperson came a day after NATO labelled China a “decisive enabler” of Russia’s war against Ukraine.

“NATO hyping up China’s responsibility on the Ukraine issue is unreasonable and has sinister motives,” spokesperson Lin Jian said at a daily briefing. He maintained that China has a fair and objective stance on the Ukraine issue.

China has broken with the United States and its European allies over the war in Ukraine, refusing to condemn Russia’s invasion. Its trade with Russia has grown since the invasion, at least partially offsetting the impact of Western sanctions.

Explained | What is NATO’s stand on Ukraine’s entry?

NATO, in a communique issued at a summit in Washington, said China has become a enabler of the war through its “no-limits partnership” with Russia and its large-scale support for Russia’s defence industrial base.

Mr. Lin said that China’s trade with Russia is legitimate and reasonable and based on World Trade Organization rules.

He said that NATO’s “so-called security” comes at the cost of the security of other countries. China has backed Russia’s contention that NATO expansion posed a threat to Russia.

China has expressed concern about NATO’s budding relationships with countries in the region. Australia, New Zealand, Japan and South Korea sent their leaders or deputies to the NATO summit this week.

“China urges NATO to … stop interfering in China’s internal politics and smearing China’s image and not create chaos in the Asia-Pacific after creating turmoil in Europe,” Mr. Lin said.

Chinese troops are in Belarus this week for joint drills near the border with Poland, a NATO member. The exercises are the first-ever with Belarus, an ally of Russia.

Mr. Lin described the joint training as normal military exchange and cooperation that is not directed at any particular country..

Washington:

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Wednesday urged the West to reject “double standards” regarding the conflict in Gaza as he joined NATO leaders in supporting Ukraine.

Spain under Sanchez has infuriated Israel’s right-wing government by recognizing a Palestinian state and criticizing Israel’s conduct of its war against Hamas.

“If we are telling our people that we are supporting Ukraine because we are defending the international law, this is the same to what we have to do towards Gaza,” he said at NATO’s 75th anniversary summit in Washington.

The socialist leader said there should be a “consistent political position” in which “we don’t have double standards.”

Sanchez said the world needed to press to “stop this terrible humanitarian crisis” affecting the Palestinians and called for an international peace conference to push for a Palestinian state.

“We need to create the conditions for an immediate and urgent ceasefire,” he said. “There is a real risk of escalation to Lebanon.”

Sanchez said he also supported “democracy, freedom and the right to exist of a country such as Ukraine.”

NATO leaders at the summit issued a declaration that said Kyiv was on an “irreversible” path to join the alliance.

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Washington:

NATO leaders on Wednesday said China’s deepening ties with Russia are a cause of “deep concern” and accused Beijing of playing a key role in helping Moscow’s assault on Ukraine.

China “has become a decisive enabler of Russia’s war against Ukraine through its so-called ‘no limits’ partnership and its large-scale support for Russia’s defense industrial base,” NATO leaders said in a declaration from their summit in Washington.

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Washington:

US President Joe Biden on Tuesday announced a historic donation of air-defence equipment for Ukraine and said Russia is failing in this war.

Welcoming leaders of NATO member countries for the historic summit on the occasion of its 75th anniversary, Biden said the United States, Germany, the Netherlands, Romania and Italy will provide Ukraine with the equipment for five additional strategic air-defence systems.

In the coming months, the US and its partners intend to provide Ukraine with dozens of additional tactical air-defence systems, he said, adding that the US will make sure that when “we export critical air-defence interceptors, Ukraine goes to the front of the line”.

“They will get this assistance before anyone else gets it. All told, Ukraine will receive hundreds of additional interceptors over the next year, helping protect Ukrainian cities against Russian missile and Ukrainian troops facing air attacks on their front lines,” Biden said.

“Make no mistake, Russia is failing in this war.  More than two years into (Russian President Vladimir) Putin’s war of choice, his losses are staggering. More than 350,000 Russian troops dead or wounded, nearly one million (10 lakh) Russians, many of them young people, have left Russia because they no longer see a future in Russia,” he said.

“Kiev, remember fellas and ladies, was supposed to fall in five days? Remember? Well, it is still standing two and a half years later and will continue to stand. All of the allies knew that before this war, Putin thought NATO would break. Today, NATO is stronger than it has ever been in its history. When this senseless war began, Ukraine was a free country. Today, it is still a free country,” the US president said.

Reiterating that Putin’s war of aggression against Ukraine continues, he said the Russian president wants nothing less than Ukraine’s total subjugation to end that country’s democracy, to destroy its culture and to wipe it off the map.

“We know Putin will not stop at Ukraine, but make no mistake, Ukraine can and will stop Putin,” Biden said.

He said the war will end with Ukraine remaining a free and independent country. “Russia will not prevail. Ukraine will prevail. Ladies and gentlemen, this is a pivotal moment for Europe, for the transatlantic community and I might add, for the world. Let us remember, the fact that NATO remains the bulwark of global security did not happen by accident,” he said.

“NATO is stronger, smarter and more energised than when you began. And a billion people across Europe or North America, indeed the whole world, will reap the rewards of your labour for years to come in the form of security, opportunity and greater freedom,” the president said.

In his remarks, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said there are no cost-free options with an aggressive Russia as a neighbour.

“There are no risk-free options in a war. And remember — the biggest cost and the greatest risk will be if Russia wins in Ukraine. We cannot let that happen. Not only would it embolden President Putin, it would also embolden other authoritarian leaders in Iran, North Korea and China,” he said.

He acknowledged that NATO’s enduring success has never been a given, but is rather “the result of deliberate choices and difficult decisions” — from the alliance’s creation to arms control negotiations, and from NATO’s enlargement at the end of the Cold War to its support to Ukraine today.

“The time to stand for freedom and democracy is now, the place is Ukraine,” he said.

Stoltenberg concluded by saying that the alliance will continue to face difficult questions in the future, but that “we are stronger and safer together in NATO”.

Biden presented Stoltenberg with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the United States’ highest civilian honour, in recognition of his decade of service at the helm of the alliance.

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Washington:

US President Joe Biden will meet his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky at NATO’s 75th anniversary summit in Washington on Thursday to show “unwavering support” for Kyiv, the White House said.

“On Thursday afternoon, President Biden will meet with President Zelensky of Ukraine to discuss our unwavering support for Ukraine as it continues to defend itself from Russian aggression,” press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told a briefing Tuesday.

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New Delhi:

 U.S. President Joe Biden will hold his first face-to-face talks with Britain’s new Prime Minister Keir Starmer at the White House on Wednesday, the White House said on Monday.

Biden also will host an event on Thursday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy at the NATO summit, which is taking place this week in Washington, national security spokesperson John Kirby told reporters.

Biden plans to “underscore the importance of continuing to strengthen the special relationship between the United States and the United Kingdom” in his meeting with Starmer, White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement.

She said the two leaders would have the opportunity to discuss U.S.-UK cooperation across a range of issues from Ukraine to the Israel-Gaza war, and ensuring that Iran does not obtain nuclear weapons, as well as confronting Iranian-backed Houthi threats to commercial shipping.

The leaders also will discuss furthering cooperation in areas such as protecting advanced technologies and developing climate and clean energy solutions.

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