Hinting at AUKUS pact and 'Quad' grouping, China warns against establishing 'NATO-like' military blocs in Asia-Pacific region, saying they would plunge the region into a 'whirlpool' of conflict
Li has been sanctioned by the United States in 2018 over weapons purchases from Russia. / Photo: AFP
"In essence, attempts to push for NATO-like [alliances] in the Asia-Pacific is a way of kidnapping regional countries and exaggerating conflicts and confrontations, which will only plunge the Asia-Pacific into a whirlpool of disputes and conflicts," Li told the Shangri-La Dialogue security summit in Singapore on Sunday.
He took thinly veiled digs at the United States, accusing"some countries" of intensifying an arms race and willfully interfering in the internal affairs of others. Li said that conflict with the US would be an"unbearable disaster" but that his country seeks dialogue over confrontation."China and the US have different systems and are different in many other ways," he said in a speech that marked his first significant international address since he was named China's Minister of National Defence in March.
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