China, with its military strength growing, accuses NATO of hypocrisy

China’s former leader, Deng Xiaoping, famously used an old proverb to describe the country’s foreign policy after the end of the Cold War: “Hide our strength, bide our time.” Those days are long gone.

China now faces a world that increasingly views its economic and military might as a threat that must be confronted, as NATO’s leaders made clear in their summit in Brussels. While China poses virtually no direct military threat to Europe, which is NATO’s home field, it can now flex its military power in ways that were unimaginable only a few years ago — not only in Asia but also globally.

Chinese officials reacted to NATO’s declaration with anger and scorn, accusing the alliance of recycling outdated Cold War strategies. A spokesman for China’s Foreign Ministry warned Tuesday that forming cliques and forcing countries to choose sides were strategies doomed to fail.