Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi meets with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in Munich, Germany, February 14, 2020. Photo: Xinhua

Led by the US, NATO has become what it had sworn to destroy. 

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Monday NATO should work more closely with like-minded countries to "stand up for a world built on freedom and democracy, not on bullying and coercion." 

However, NATO - the ghost of the Cold War - is already outdated and has acted against its principle of being the essential source of stability in an unpredictable world.

Stoltenberg noted, "The rise of China is fundamentally shifting the global balance of power, heating up the race for economic and technological supremacy, multiplying the threats to open societies and individual freedoms, and increasing the competition over our values and our way of life." Thus he believed a broader approach should be taken globally to address the security consequences of the rise of China. 

Nonetheless, NATO's internal disputes on defense spending reflect that its members haven't even reached a consensus on what security threats they are facing. NATO has lost its long-time target after the end of the Cold War and become brain-dead. It wants to prove the significance of its existence by setting China as a new target, which is totally nonsense. 

And such a statement full of Cold War mind-set will not necessarily be responded to warmly. It is an extension of Washington's anti-China campaign. The US is the country that bullies and coerces others - exactly what NATO opposes. Not to mention that under US leadership, many NATO members' interests have been infringed repeatedly. The US itself also creates and aggravates disputes within the alliance.

Germany has been the latest victim of US recklessness. Johann Wadephul, deputy chair of the parliamentary group of German Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union, described the planned US troop withdrawal from the country as a wake-up call that reminds Germans how unreliable Washington can be as an ally and as a leader. 

The world has no longer been engaged in a simple confrontation of different ideologies. Germany and France - two important NATO members - have realized it and been attaching importance to their relations with China. Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron reiterated how they highlight the sound ties with China during their telephone calls with President Xi Jinping last week. 

China is a peace-loving and responsible major power, while the US is the belligerent one that finds fault with others using its hegemonic power. It is self-evident to tell relations with which of the two countries are more beneficial.

Take China-Germany ties. Bilateral trade reached 205.9 billion euro ($232.4 billion) in 2019, and China has been Germany's largest trading partner since 2016. There are over 5,200 Chinese companies in Germany, offering more than 1 million jobs. 

By contrast, not only has the US launched trade wars against its allies, but NATO led by the US has also been trying to cut off its members' sound ties with China in the name of "freedom and democracy." How can such a mind-set echo? 

The US is not satisfied with indulging in its Cold-War hysteria alone, but wants to rope more countries in. Fortunately, US allies are not all fools.