NATO leaders are expected to call out China for its support of Russia’s war machine at their summit in Washington. However, they are divided over their approach to the Indo-Pacific region.

At their summit in the US capital, NATO leaders are not only set to approve a new military aid package for Ukraine, but also to talk tough on China.

In an interview with US media ahead of the summit, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg described China as “the main enabler of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine.”

Antony Blinken, the US Secretary of State, told DW at a foreign ministers’ meeting in Prague in May that China’s support was “a huge difference-maker right now on the battlefield.” He added that for China to purport to seek better relations with countries in Europe while at the same time fueling the biggest threat to Europe’s security “does not add up.”

According to the US assessment, China is the top supplier of machine tools, microelectronics, and nitrocellulose — critical to making munitions and rocket propellers — and other dual-use items that Moscow uses to ramp up its defense industrial base.