TEHRAN- Beijing has called on NATO to end its double-standards and abandon its Cold War mentality.

The remarks were made in response to NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg’s comments on China’s military developments.

Apparently, only NATO has the right to develop its military while the rest of the world is prohibited from making any military progress to defend and preserve its territorial integrity, independence or sovereignty.

But the NATO chief went a step further claiming the country was becoming a "more and more authoritarian power" that was displaying assertive behavior, threatening Taiwan, and developing military capabilities.

This is while the military alliance led by the United States have military bases at every corner of the planet to wage wars, instigate or incite violence, provoke wars, and occupy large chunks of countries against the wishes of the respective country’s legitimate government.

If there is a conflict on this planet, the U.S. and its NATO allies have fanned the flames of it.

The terror which the U.S.-led military alliance has unleashed around the world under its so-called “war on terror” since 2001 has created terror groups in West Asia that had no existence before the mysterious and dubious war mission began.

For example, Daesh and the Nusra Front are similar to al-Qaeda but on heavy steroids.

When Washington doesn’t care about the communities it terrorizes back at home or its neighbors in Latin America as a direct result of its own actions, never mind West Asia and beyond, that makes the U.S. the most authoritarian regime in the world today.

Of course, the NATO chief can’t speak out against his master in Washington DC, but he can take orders from the Pentagon to regurgitate U.S. rhetoric against Beijing.

The Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson, Mao Ning, did hit back, saying "that NATO, on one hand, keeps breaching its traditional defense zones and areas, asking member countries to increase military spending and military build-up. But on the other hand, it’s talking down to China. This is a typical double-standard move. China adheres to the path of peaceful development and is the country with the best record on peace and security issues. We have never invaded any country nor never engaged in proxy wars, never engaged in military operations around the world, and never threatened other countries with force.”

The facts on the ground show that China has never waged a war against another country.

The region where Beijing has dispatched its troops outside the Chinese mainland is a very small contingent in Africa as part of the United Nations Peacekeeping Forces. In other words, to preserve the peace in Africa under the United Nations.

On the contrary, the wars waged by the U.S.-led military alliance, the number of proxy wars it has engaged in, the numbers of conflicts it has stirred as well as the number of countries it has threatened are too long to list.
The facts on the ground show how much NATO has destabilized international peace and security.

“What NATO should do is to abandon its Cold War mentality and ideological bias and seriously reflect on what role it actually plays for the stability of Europe and the world, instead of stirring up conflicts and playing up the Chinese threat everywhere." the Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said.

NATO claims China is not an adversary, but the military measures and provocations it has made against China, in particular the U.S., would suggest the opposite.

Contrary to Stoltenberg’s remarks, Taiwan is a province of China. Under international law it is part of China, something that is recognized by the U.S. itself. Under the one-China policy, which has a clear and unambiguous meaning, there is only one China and Taiwan is an inalienable part of China. The government of the People's Republic of China is the sole legal government representing entire China.

If anything, it is U.S. and NATO-backed separatist forces in Taipei that are displaying assertive behavior, threatening the Chinese mainland.

China has also reacted to White House allegations that the Chinese balloon shot down was part of a fleet that spanned five continents.

This is in reference to a weather balloon which sent the American establishment into a frenzy, alleging it was a spy object despite Beijing’s logical statements that the unintended and unexpected entry of the unmanned civilian airship into U.S. airspace was entirely caused by "force majeure".

The Chinese foreign ministry said, “The U.S. is the number one country in surveillance and reconnaissance. It has long-running intelligence programs across the globe.”

It added that U.S. aircraft and warships frequently conduct close-in reconnaissance around China, which seriously threatens China’s national security and undermines regional peace and stability.

“The Chinese side has repeatedly voiced our grave concerns. The U.S. needs to put an immediate end to such provocations,” it said.

China also says it is not aware of any “fleet of balloons”, saying “That narrative is probably part of the information and public opinion warfare the U.S. has waged on China. As to who is the world’s number one country of spying, eavesdropping and surveillance, that is plainly visible to the international community.”?

The country’s vice-foreign minister, Xie Feng, has lodged a formal complaint with the U.S. embassy over the incident, accusing Washington of overreacting to an accident “caused by force majeure”.

Xie emphasized that the Chinese civilian unmanned airship strayed into the U.S. airspace due to accidents and incidents caused by force majeure. The facts are clear and cannot be distorted or smeared. However, the U.S. turned a deaf ear and insisted on indiscriminate use of force against the civilian airship that was about to leave U.S. airspace. It obviously overreacted and seriously violated the spirit of international law and international practice.

China says it resolutely opposes and strongly protests the use of force in shooting its unmanned civilian aircraft, and has called on the U.S. not to take further actions that harm China's interests, and not to escalate or expand the tension.

The Chinese government says it is paying close attention to the development of the situation, and will resolutely safeguard the rights and interests of Chinese companies, resolutely defend the interests and dignity of China, and reserves the right to make further necessary reactions.

“The facts are clear … but the United States turned a deaf ear and insisted on indiscriminate use of force against the civilian airship that was about to leave the United States airspace. It obviously overreacted and seriously violated the spirit of international law and international practice,” Xie has been quoted as saying.

The irony is that during the era of President Donald Trump, the White House rhetoric against Beijing was more intense and provocative.

The Pentagon now says there were three instances during the Trump administration of Chinese balloons swaying over the U.S., yet even Trump did not make a fuss as experts say the intelligence clearly suggested at the time these were balloons of a civilian nature. (Trump has since denied the claim).

The suspicious timing of the U.S. announcement and its sinister accusations against China, on the eve of U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s proposed trip to Beijing (which China didn’t even announce) indicates that Washington wants to resume its provocative measures against the growing economic superpower.

However, the Biden administration appears to have fewer cards to provoke China with.

This is why it resorted to the use of force over a weather balloon with limited self-steering capability and deviated far from its planned course and entered into the airspace of Latin America and the Caribbean.

Washington is clearly desperate and its latest dramatic filmed actions of warplanes overreacting by shooting down a civilian aircraft (at the orders of President Biden) is yet another sign of America’s weakness.