China warns “NATO-like” alliances could trigger conflict in Asia-Pacific

China's Defence Minister Li Shangfu has said that establishing NATO-like military alliances in the Asia-Pacific would plunge the region into a "whirlpool" of conflict.

Shangfu's comments came a day after US and Chinese military vessels sailed close to each other in the flashpoint Taiwan Strait, an incident that provoked anger from both sides, according to the UAE-based publication Gulf News.

"Attempts to push for NATO-like (alliances) in the Asia-Pacific is a way of kidnapping regional countries and exaggerating conflicts and confrontations," Li told a security conference in Singapore also attended by US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.

Li said these alliances would "plunge the Asia-Pacific into a whirlpool of disputes and conflicts".

He didn’t name any country, but his comments echoed long-held Chinese criticism of the United States seeking to shore up alliances in the region.

"Today's Asia-Pacific needs open and inclusive cooperation, not buddying up into small cliques. We must not forget the severe disasters brought by the two world wars to peoples of all countries, and we must not allow such tragic history to repeat itself," Li said at the Shangri-La Dialogue security summit.