China officially joins Russia as danger to Nato

"China is rapidly expanding its nuclear arsenal with more warheads and a larger number of sophisticated delivery systems," the statement added.

"It is also cooperating militarily with Russia, including through participation in Russian exercises in the Euro-Atlantic area," it said.

Nato secretary general Jens Stoltenberg highlighted the novelty of the text in his post-summit press conference.

"The first time [ever] we mentioned China in a communiqué and a document in a decision from Nato leaders was 18 months ago," he noted, when Nato spoke of China-linked "opportunities and challenges" back in 2019.

"China's not an adversary," Stoltenberg noted.

But he also expanded on the list of its threatening activities.

"They [the Chinese] already have the ... second biggest defence budget, and already the biggest navy, and they are investing heavily in new modern capabilities, including by investing in new disruptive technologies such as autonomous systems, facial recognition and artificial intelligence, and putting them into different weapon systems," he said.

"They are really in the process of changing the nature of warfare," Stoltenberg said.

He rejected the idea that Nato, whose core task was to defend the North-Atlantic region, was overstepping its treaty boundaries.

"To respond to the challenges we see that China poses to our security, is not about moving Nato to Asia ... because we see that China is coming closer to us," he said.

"We see China coming closer to us in cyber, controlling infrastructure in Africa and the Arctic, training together with Russia in North Atlantic waters," he added.

The Nato pivot to China did not mean it had abandoned concern on Russia, whose malign activities, from waging war in Ukraine to blowing up warehouses in the Czech Republic, still dominated the communiqué, however.

"Until Russia demonstrates compliance with international law and its international obligations and responsibilities, there can be no return to 'business as usual'," the statement said.

China was named 10 times and Russia 62 times.

Macron dissent

Meanwhile, French president Emmanuel Macron and German chancellor Angela Merkel also voiced a more China-friendly tone.

"Nato is a military organisation, the issue of our relationship with China isn't just a military issue. It is economic. It is strategic. It is about values. It is technological," Macron told press after the summit.

China was a "major power with which we are working on global issues to move forward together" as well as a "competitor", he noted.

"It's very important that we don't ... bias our relationship with China," he said.

"China is not in the North Atlantic," Macron added, going against Stoltenberg's line.

"Russia, above all, is a major challenge," Merkel also said, while noting the Nato communiqué reflected the fact the US was a Pacific-Ocean as well as an Atlantic power.

"If you look at the cyber threats, the hybrid threats, if you look at the cooperation between Russia and China, then you cannot simply negate China ... [but] I do not think that we should overestimate the importance of this [Chinese threat]," she added.

For its part, China had not yet responded as of Tuesday morning.

The Nato summit came ahead of US president Joe Biden's meeting with top EU officials in Brussels on Tuesday and with Russian president Vladimir Putin in Geneva on Wednesday.

It signalled a return to normal after four years in which former US president Donald Trump had questioned the value of Nato and insulted Macron, Merkel, and others, while cozying up to Putin.

Back to normal

Nato's mutual defence pact was "rock solid" and a "sacred obligation" for the US, Biden said.

"I want all Europe to know that ... Nato is critically important to us," he added.

"With Joe Biden ... there is a clear understanding of the necessity of Nato," Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte said.

"I was able to work with Trump. Of course, it was a bit more awkward ... but with Joe Biden, it's more natural again," he added.

Meanwhile, Biden gave away little on what he might say to Putin.

But he sounded more dovish than hawkish by excluding the idea of a Nato membership action plan for Ukraine, on grounds "they [Ukraine] still have to clean up corruption".

He also said Putin was a "bright" and "tough" adversary.

"I will make clear to president Putin that there are areas where we can cooperate, if he chooses," Biden said.

The West needed a "robust dialogue" with Russia to "build a security framework for the European continent", Macron also said.