Moscow Says EU Moving Towards Geopolitical Rivalry With China Through NATO Partnership

MOSCOW (Sputnik) The European Union is moving towards geopolitical rivalry with China through its deepening partnership with NATO and signing a new declaration on bilateral cooperation with the alliance, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Wednesday.

"In global context, the EU is moving to a 'new level of partnership' with NATO, thus shifting towards geopolitical rivalry with China and ensuring the superiority of the North Atlantic Alliance in operational areas, such as critical infrastructure protection, space, media and even fight against climate change," Zakharova said.

On Tuesday, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, European Council President Charles Michel, and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen signed Joint Declaration on EU-NATO Cooperation. The document stated the allies' intention to strengthen cooperation, recognizing NATO as the basis of the collective security, and stressed the need to enhance European defense as a complement to the common safety.

According to the spokeswoman, the joint declaration is "another panegyric of Western supremacy philosophy," which "notoriously states that NATO and the EU will use all political, economic and military means 'in the interests of our one billion citizens'." Meanwhile, the rest of the world is essentially considered by EU-NATO as a hostile environment, she added.

Zakharova also said that aggressive and confrontational approaches of NATO and the EU towards other countries sticking to independent foreign policy, as well as attempts to divide states into "friends" and "foes" would only hinder peaceful settlement of global conflicts and weaken international security in the face of persistent challenges of terrorism.