Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether her Department has made an assessment of the implications for her policies of China's support for Russian opposition to the expansion of NATO; and if she will make a statement.

In her meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on 10 February the Foreign Secretary stated that every nation had the right to choose its own security arrangement. Improving one nation's security did not threaten another's. She rejected zero-sum arguments and raised her concerns at the recent joint Russia-China statement that directly referred to NATO enlargement. She stressed that progress is possible through meaningful negotiations if Russia de-escalates and pursues a diplomatic pathway.