Key Points
- China has been branded a threat by NATO, which described its policies as a "challenge" to the interests, security and values of the alliance.
- Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told NATO leaders that China aimed to become the "most powerful nation in the world".
China has been branded a threat by NATO, which described its policies as a "challenge" to the interests, security and values of the alliance, as Australia said it had been economically coerced by Beijing.
The 30-member security organisation approved a new blueprint for the next decade on Wednesday, condemning China for the first time in its more than 70-year history.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told NATO leaders that China aimed to become the "most powerful nation in the world", adding a strengthening of relations between Beijing and Moscow posed a risk to all democratic nations.
"Just as Russia seeks to recreate a Russian or Soviet empire, the Chinese government is seeking friends, whether it be ... through economic support to build up alliances to undermine what has historically been the Western alliance in places like the Indo-Pacific," Mr Albanese told the NATO gathering in Madrid.
Mr Albanese said Australia had been subject to "economic coercion" by China, and has urged democratic leaders to pursue trade diversification.
NATO, which includes the US, UK, Canada and most of Europe, warned the Chinese government was "rapidly expanding" its nuclear capability without increasing transparency or engaging in good faith in arms control.
"The PRC's [People's Republic of China] malicious hybrid and cyber operations and its confrontational rhetoric and disinformation target allies and harm alliance security," NATO said in its first planning document in a decade.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said NATO should stop "trying to launch a new Cold War".
Vladimir Putin warns NATO over Finland, Sweden
Russia will respond in kind if NATO deploys troops and infrastructure in Finland and Sweden after they join the US-led military alliance, President Vladimir Putin said.
"With Sweden and Finland, we don't have the problems that we have with Ukraine. They want to join NATO, go ahead," Putin told Russian state television on Wednesday after talks with regional leaders in Turkmenistan.
"But they must understand there was no threat before, while now, if military contingents and infrastructure are deployed there, we will have to respond in kind and create the same threats for the territories from which threats towards us are created."
He said it was inevitable that Moscow's relations with Helsinki and Stockholm would sour over their NATO membership.
Mr Putin made his comment a day after NATO member Turkey lifted its veto over the bid by Finland and Sweden to join the alliance after the three nations agreed to protect each other's security.
The move means Helsinki and Stockholm can proceed with their application to join NATO, marking the biggest shift in European security in decades.
China more eager to challenge rules, Jacinda Ardern says
China has become "more assertive and more willing to challenge international rules and norms", New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said.
New Zealand's Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has told the NATO "we must stand firm on the rules-based order" in the face of the Ukraine war and a more assertive China. Source: AAP / Pool for Yomiuri/AP
"We must stand firm on the rules-based order, call for diplomatic engagement and speak out against human rights abuses at all times when and where we see them," Ms Ardern said on Wednesday.
New Zealand is not a member of NATO, but it is a partner of the Western defence alliance and on occasion, New Zealand troops have supported NATO-led operation.
In recent months it has contributed to the NATO Trust Fund for operations in Ukraine.
Ms Ardern said the resilience of the Indo-Pacific region must be strengthened through relationships and economic architecture rather than militarisation.
New Zealand has toughened its tone recently on both security and Beijing's growing presence in the South Pacific, in part due to the signing of a security pact between China and Solomon Islands.
It has also taken a strong stance on the invasion of Ukraine, implemented sanctions and sent defence support to Europe.
Emmanuel Macron to host Anthony Albanese for talks
Anthony Albanese and French President Emmanuel Macron will this week hold talks in Paris, seeking to repair ties badly damaged by the ditching of a submarine contract, according to an official.
Mr Macron is to host Mr Albanese at the Elysee Palace on Friday morning, a French presidential official, who asked not to be named, told AFP on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Madrid.
The talks at the Elysee will be the first such formal bilateral summit between the Australian and French leaders since former Australian prime minister Scott Morrison in September 2021 ripped up a French contract to build a dozen diesel-powered submarines.
The scrapping of the contract led to an unprecedented crisis between Canberra and Paris and such bad blood that outgoing foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian applauded Mr Morrison's loss in polls to Mr Albanese, which he said "suits me fine".
"Morrison's actions were marked by "brutality and cynicism, and I would even be tempted to say of unequivocal incompetence", said Le Drian as he handed over to his successor Catherine Colonna on 21 May.
The switch by Canberra came as it entered a new security pact with Britain and the United States. Macron recalled its envoys to both Australia and the United States over the furore.
France was particularly ruffled as it considers itself to be a key Pacific power thanks to overseas territories including New Caledonia and French Polynesia.
It was also stung as Mr Macron had hosted Mr Morrison at the Elysee in June 2021, months before the stunning about-turn, with French officials saying they were given no inkling even in private of what was to come.
Mr Albanese announced earlier this month that French submarine maker Naval Group had agreed to a "fair and an equitable settlement" of 555 million euros ($843 million) for Australia ending the decade-old multi-billion-dollar submarine contract.
