London, United Kingdom

China on Friday (April 29) accused the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) of messing up in Europe and stirring conflicts.

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Earlier, British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss had warned that's China failure to play by global rules would cut short its rise as a superpower and said the West should ensure that Taiwan can defend itself.

During a speech at Mansion House in London, she said, "Countries must play by the rules and that includes China."

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After her speech, spokesman for China’s ministry of foreign affairs, Wang Wenbin said that NATO has “wantonly waged wars and dropped bombs in sovereign states, killing and displacing innocent civilians.”

“NATO, a military organisation in the North Atlantic, has in recent years come to the Asia-Pacific region to throw its weight around and stir up conflicts,” Wang said.

“Nato has messed up Europe. Is it now trying to mess up the Asia-Pacific and even the world?”

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The United Kingdom, dwarfed economically and militarily by China, is the world's sixth-largest economy.

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Adding that China's further rise was not inevitable, Truss said "They will not continue to rise if they do not play by the rules. China needs trade with the G7. We (the Group of Seven) represent around half of the global economy. And we have choices," she said.

"We have shown with Russia the kind of choices that we're prepared to make when international rules are violated."

Defending China's stance on Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Wenbin said “We have always made independent judgments based on the merits of the case.”

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has also asked China to persuade Russia to help end the war in Ukraine.

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"We need to pre-empt threats in the Indo-Pacific, working with allies like Japan and Australia to ensure that the Pacific is protected," Truss said.

"We must ensure that democracies like Taiwan are able to defend themselves," she added.

The West has expressed concerns that China can take advantage of the Ukraine crisis to invade Taiwan, which it claims is a part of the country.

(With inputs from agencies)