- China's defense ministry called NATO "a walking war machine."
- Spokesperson Wu Qian didn't mince his words when journalists raised questions about NATO.
- NATO has invited Japan and South Korea to its annual summit since 2022.
China's defense ministry has accused NATO of being a warmonger.
"It's fair to say NATO is like a walking war machine, wherever it goes, there will be instability," defense ministry spokesperson Wu Qian said of the military alliance during a press conference in Beijing on Thursday.
Wu's comments came in response to journalists' questions about NATO's ongoing military exercise, Steadfast Defender 2024. Roughly 90,000 troops are slated to participate in the exercise — the largest NATO has conducted since the Cold War.
The exercise kicked off on Wednesday and is slated to take place across the transatlantic region over the next six months.
"In recent years, NATO has been inching closer to the Asia Pacific and using the non-existent 'China threat' as an excuse to advance bloc confrontation, which poses a threat to regional security," Wu told journalists.
NATO has been stepping up its outreach to Asia. Since 2022, Japan and South Korea have been attending NATO's annual summits.
The military alliance reportedly considered setting up a liaison office in Japan last year. The plan fell through after French President Emmanuel Macron opposed the move. Macron has long been against NATO confronting China.
"NATO is a military organization, the issue of our relationship with China isn't just a military issue," Macron said after a NATO meeting in 2021. "NATO is an organization that concerns the North Atlantic, China has little to do with the North Atlantic."
Representatives for NATO did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider sent outside regular business hours.