Is China Challenging NATO by Calling for New Global Security Model?

Is China Challenging NATO by Calling for New Global Security Model?

© AFP 2015/ JOHN THYS

The Chinese Foreign Ministry called on Thursday for the international community to reject NATO’s Cold War policy and create a new organization to provide world security.

© AFP 2015
World Must Reject NATO Cold War Policy, Create New Security Model
"We believe that NATO is a product of the Cold War <…> We are convinced that the international community must move away from the Cold War mentality," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said during a press briefing on Thursday.
Hua explained that no country or group of states could secure absolute safety on their own. The spokeswoman urged the international community to create a new system of comprehensive security, which would be "fair and just."
Sinologist Bronislaw Vinogrodsky told Sputnik Radio that he sees this as a call to abandon the ‘bloc’ legacy of the past.
“Normally, China is neutral and silent when others speak. And then, when the time comes — China very clearly knows the right time — then it speaks. Right now it is a difficult time due to the Turkish, Syrian events and it involves a lot of forces at play. China has put forward a solid argument about the need to conceptually change the entire system of international security.”
“NATO’s struggle for safety has killed so many people. Therefore, China proposes to abandon the legacy of the ‘Cold War’ with demands to revise the whole system of relations in general in the world. This is not empty rhetoric,” Bronislaw Vinogrodsky told Sputnik radio.
The expert further elaborated saying that Chinese diplomacy very rarely allows direct opposition to something or someone, unless there is an immediate threat to China.
“But clearly this very action is directed essentially at NATO. Although I think that even NATO understands that it has become obsolete,” the expert added.
NATO’s expansion towards the Balkans has resulted in China’s recent comments on the alliance.
He added that Montenegro is a very good example as it is very far from playing a direct role in the relations between the West and China. “China’s proposal is not pacifism but an effort to resolve situations without war.”