As leaders of major Western democracies and their allies meet in two back-to-back summits this week in Europe, their focus is clear: keeping pressure on Russia as its brutal assault on Ukraine enters its fifth month.
But another country has also been pulled into the spotlight in those meetings: China. And Beijing is not happy about it.
For the first time, the China “challenge” is expected to feature in NATO’s “Strategic Concept,” slated for release at the bloc’s summit in Madrid this week. The document, last updated in 2010, lays out the security challenges facing the alliance while outlining a course of action.
European leaders have grown increasingly wary of China in recent years and those views have hardened in recent months as Beijing has repeatedly refused to condemn the Russian invasion of Ukraine and bolstered its ties with the Kremlin.
