China has criticised “indiscriminate” sanctions against Chinese companies and taken aim at Nato as the war in Ukraine enters its third year. Zhang said the situation Europe was facing today was closely related to the eastward expansion of Nato since the end of the Cold War and, without naming Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg directly, also attacked the “head of Nato”.

Zhang Jun, China’s permanent representative to the United Nations, said on Friday that Beijing “firmly opposed” the “unlawful sanctions” imposed on Chinese companies by the United States, Britain and the European Union, “using the Ukraine issue as an excuse”.

“We encourage Nato to do some soul-searching, come out of the cage of Cold War mentality, and refrain from acting as an agent of trouble instigating bloc confrontation,” Zhang said in his most blunt criticism of the alliance yet.