China lashed out at NATO on Thursday, accusing it of smearing the country after the Western alliance called it a “decisive enabler” of Russia’s war in Ukraine — the first time it has accused Beijing of involvement in the conflict.

China “cannot enable the largest war in Europe in recent history without this negatively impacting its interests and reputation,” NATO said in a communiqué Wednesday at its summit marking its 75th anniversary in Washington, D.C., hinting at unspecified consequences if Beijing continued its course.

The communiqué called on China “to cease all material and political support to Russia’s war effort.” That included all “transfer of dual-use materials” — supplies that can be converted for war — “such as weapons components, equipment, and raw materials that serve as inputs for Russia’s defense sector,” it said.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg later told reporters that this was “the strongest message NATO allies have ever sent on China’s contributions to Russia’s illegal war against Ukraine.”

China’s response was swift and blunt.

NATO’s statement was “filled with Cold War mentality and belligerent rhetoric,” which was “provocative” and filled with “obvious lies and smears,” a spokesperson for China’s mission to the European Union said in a statement early Thursday. “We firmly reject and deplore these accusations and have lodged serious representations with NATO.”

Later, at a daily news briefing in Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian accused NATO of “malicious intent.”

The United States has for months accused China of supplying Russia with dual-use materials. Its European allies, most of whom are far more economically reliant on Beijing than Washington is, have been more hesitant to make that call.

This week’s communiqué, however, means that NATO as a whole has come into line with Washington’s view.

“Authoritarian leaders in Iran, North Korea and China all support Russia’s brutal war,” Stoltenberg said in a speech Tuesday opening the summit. “They all want NATO to fail, so the outcome of this war will shape global security for decades to come.”

Fabrice Pothier, former head of policy planning for two NATO secretaries-general, told NBC News that the communiqué represented a “sharpening” of the alliance’s previous criticism of China. “But the tension within NATO” remains, he added, in that “it falls short of putting a cost or pointing to any consequences in that behavior” by China.

There are other signs that some of the alliance’s members are increasingly of the view that — although it falls outside their Russia-focused remit — China is inextricably related to their mission because of its relationship with the Kremlin.

Czech President Petr Pavel warned the summit that Russian victory in Ukraine would “encourage China to be more assertive and aggressive.” He urged NATO members to support America in its "competition with China in all areas around the globe.”

Alongside the NATO members themselves, Australia, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea were all at the summit to “discuss the increasing connectivity” between Europe and Asia, a White House briefing note said. Most pressing is the “increasingly concerning military and economic relationship” among China, Russia and North Korea, the note added.

Beijing and Moscow have grown increasingly close in recent years, with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin declaring a “no-limits partnership” days after the invasion of Ukraine in 2022. China claims that it takes a neutral position on the conflict, blaming the U.S. and NATO for provoking the invasion by ignoring Russia’s concerns about the alliance’s expansion.

The alliance has morphed in focus since 1949, when it was founded as a military and political bulwark against the then-Soviet Union. After that communist empire collapsed in 1991, NATO's widening purview has had mixed results.

In 2003, its leading role in Afghanistan after the U.S.-led invasion was its first foray outside Europe. Afghanistan descended into a quagmire of bloody insurgency and government corruption, before the Taliban took back control of the country in 2021.

A more successful example was in the former Yugoslavia, where NATO carried out a 78-day bombing campaign to stop the Serbian government of Slobodan Milošević, which was committing atrocities in Kosovo.

Today, any expansion into Asia is still being debated within NATO.

Some allies, including Sweden, have even floated opening a liaison office in Tokyo. But French President Emmanuel Macron said in June last year that such a geographic expansion outside NATO’s backyard would be a “big mistake.”

For Keir Giles, a senior consulting fellow at Chatham House, a London-based think tank, the communiqué was not “an indication of NATO pivoting toward Asia, but rather dealing with problems that China is causing within its own vicinity,”

He added that it left “a lot of open questions, however, such as now there’s language recognizing China as a problem, what are the 32 members of NATO going to do to deal with that problem?”

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China calls Nato a ‘belligerent’ liar over Russia claims

China has called Nato a belligerent liar as it lashed out at the “Cold War” claims that it was supporting Russia’s military.

Beijing warned Nato against “provoking confrontation” after the Western security alliance accused China of being a “decisive enabler” of Moscow’s war against Ukraine.

Nato’s first-of-its-kind warning to China urged the world’s second-largest economy, as a permanent member of the UN Security Council, to “cease all material and political support to Russia’s war effort”.

The statement, which followed an annual meeting of the 32 leaders of the alliance’s members, said Beijing “cannot enable the largest war in Europe in recent history without this negatively impacting its interests and reputation”.

Jens Stoltenberg, Nato’s secretary general, described the language as the “strongest message Nato allies have ever sent on China’s contributions to Russia’s illegal war against Ukraine”.

China claims neutrality in the conflict while at the same time providing an economic lifeline to and deepening strategic ties with Russia, which is subject to international sanctions.

Mr Stoltenberg told reporters in Washington that China provides equipment, microelectronics and tools that are allowing Russia “to build the missiles, to build the bombs, to build the aircraft, to build the weapons they use to attack Ukraine”.

China has always denied these claims.

A spokesman for Beijing’s mission to the European Union hit back at Nato’s statement, saying it should “stop hyping up the so-called China threat and provoking confrontation and rivalry, and do more to contribute to world peace and stability”.

The summit declaration was “full of Cold War mentality and belligerent rhetoric, and China-related content is full of provocations, lies, incitement and smears,” he said, adding that “China is not the creator of the crisis in Ukraine” and was committed to promoting peace talks.

Beijing’s stern rebuke comes amid a surge in Chinese military activity in the Pacific.

Taiwan said on Thursday that it was closely observing a sizeable swarm of 66 Chinese warplanes operating around its territory, 36 of which were heading for exercises in the Western Pacific with the aircraft carrier Shandong.

The country’s defence ministry also released images of a Chinese J-16 fighter jet and a nuclear capable H-6 bomber, which it said had been taken recently although it did not reveal where or when.

On Wednesday, China’s foreign ministry said it firmly opposed Nato “inserting itself into the Asia-Pacific” to disrupt “stability and prosperity in this region.”

However, ahead of the Nato summit, Taiwan’s foreign ministry said it welcomed the alliance’s “continuous increase in attention to peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region in recent years.”

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After embrace at NATO summit, Zelenskyy takes his case for US military aid to governors

Away from Washington, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy sought to broaden support for U.S. military aid by telling state governors Friday that the world’s leaders should see for themselves the carnage wrought since Russia invaded his country more than two years ago.

Zelenskyy's plea at the National Governors Association summer meeting in Salt Lake City came days after NATO leaders met in the U.S. capital and pledged more help for Ukraine.

“The only thing we ask for is sufficient support — air defense systems for our cities, weapons for our men and women on the frontline, support in protecting normal life and rebuilding,” Zelenskyy told the governors. “This is all we need to withstand and drive Russia from our land and to send a strong signal to all other potential aggressors which are watching.”

NATO members this week agreed to a new program to provide reliable military aid to Ukraine and prepare for its eventual membership in the alliance. They declared Ukraine was on an “ irreversible ” path to join NATO and, for the first time, that China was a “ decisive enabler ” of Russia in the war.

Yet many Republicans including former President Donald Trump have been skeptical and in some cases opposed to continuing to help Ukraine fight off Russia’s 2022 invasion. President Joe Biden highlighted NATO's world role and his differences with Trump over Ukraine after the summit.

While governors don't vote on U.S. military aid to Ukraine, Zelenskyy's appearance showed his willingness to connect with other leaders in the U.S. to plead his country's case.

He got a warm welcome, introduced to cheers and thunderous applause by Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, a Republican and the outgoing National Governors Association chairman.

“There are things that happen in world affairs. Sometimes it’s hard to tell who the good guys and the bad guys are. This is not one of those times,” Cox said.

Cox and Zelenskyy signed a trade agreement between Utah and the Kyiv region. Several governors of both parties pledged in a closed-door meeting with the Ukrainian leader to urge their states' wealthiest people to give humanitarian aid, said Hawaii Gov. Josh Green, a Democrat.

The Ukrainian president also met Friday with members of Utah’s congressional delegation — all are Republicans — and with leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the uber-wealthy Utah-based faith known widely as the Mormon church.

Zelenskyy’s appeal to governors from both parties could pay dividends if Trump is reelected in November, Green told The Associated Press.

“If Mr. Trump becomes president again, perhaps he’ll listen to some of the Republican governors that were in the room and us, perhaps, as Democratic governors because it’s a humanitarian crisis,” he said.

Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt, a Republican, said Zelenskyy made “a very, very good case” that has motivated him to urge others in his party to continue sending aid. Stitt had previously called for “imposing all possible sanctions” on Russia but had not come out in favor of funding the Ukrainian military.

“We need to punch a bully in the nose when he’s coming in and trying to take over a sovereign country like Ukraine,” Stitt told reporters Friday. “It seems like a pretty good use of funds. These aren't American forces on the ground, these are just simply dollars, weapons, technology. It makes a lot of sense."

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