China has responded angrily to a planned statement from Nato’s Washington summit, saying it is full of provocation and lies. 

The draft communiqué is set to accuse China of being a “decisive enabler” of Russia’s war in Ukraine and will detail Beijing’s supply of weapons, equipment and raw material to Moscow. 

In response, China said: “As we all know, China is not the creator of the crisis in Ukraine.

“The declaration of the NATO summit in Washington is full of Cold War mentality and belligerent rhetoric, and China-related content is full of provocations, lies, incitement and smears,

The move comes as amid a surge in Chinese military activity in the Pacific. 

Taiwan said on Thursday that it had detected 66 Chinese warplanes operating around its territory, some of which were heading for exercises with the aircraft carrier Shandong. 

The country’s defence ministry also released images of a fighter jet and a nuclear capable H-6 bomber, which it said had been taken recently.

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