Beijing has regularly criticized US efforts in the Indo-Pacific to develop new military alliances, such as the AUKUS security agreement signed last year, warning that this may lead to a regional arms race.

Washington is seeking to create an “Indo-Pacific version of NATO” to allow a US-dominated system of hegemony to undermine regional cooperation structures like the ASEAN group of nations via “exclusive clubs,” Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi has said.
 
“The true purpose of the US Indo-Pacific strategy is to try to create an Indo-Pacific version of NATO,” Wang said, speaking at a press conference on Monday.
 
The foreign minister accused "certain forces" of attempting to inflate the claimed Chinese threat, emphasizing that the People's Republic saw the region as a territory for cooperation, not a  "chessboard" for geopolitical confrontation.

“We welcome initiatives which correspond to the real state of affairs in the region, satisfy the requirements of each side, and strongly oppose the incitement to regional confrontation, and the creation of confrontational opposing camps,” Wang said.

Russia-China ties

Wang also commented on the state of Russia-China ties, calling Moscow Beijing’s “most important strategic partner.” The relationship remains “one of the most crucial bilateral relationships in the world,” and one “conducive to world peace, stability, and development,” he said.
 
“No matter how perilous the international landscape is, we will maintain our strategic focus and promote the development of a comprehensive China-Russia partnership in the new era. The friendship between the two peoples is ironclad, and both sides’ future cooperation prospects are tremendous,” he said.
 
In response to the war in Ukraine, Wang stated that the People's Republic of China would provide humanitarian help through the Red Cross and that Beijing is willing to "engage with the international community to carry out essential mediation" between Moscow and Kiev.
 
The diplomat also expressed hope that Russian and Ukrainian diplomats will "make new progress" in the next third round of talks, stating that solving complicated problems "needs calm and rationality, rather than throwing gasoline to the fire and exacerbating conflicts."

Regarding whether there was any comparison to be made between the security crisis in Ukraine and China’s Taiwan, Wang stressed that the issues were “fundamentally different” and “cannot be compared."

“Taiwan will eventually return to the arms of the motherland,” Wang said, adding that any “attempts to use Taiwan to contain China are doomed to failure.”