Two days after the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) declared Beijing a “systemic challenge” to the rules-based international order, China’s state-run media on June 16 repeated prior remarks by French President Emmanuel Macron calling the alliance “brain dead.” The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) mouthpiece CCTV published an article on Wednesday criticizing NATO for being stuck in “rigid and backward thinking” as the regime pushed back on an official communiqué signed by the leaders of 30 countries naming China as a top concern of the military alliance. “China is not an Atlantic country,” the state mouthpiece argued, trying to proclaim that China is only an “imaginary enemy” of NATO because its China is not located in the North Atlantic while ignoring the CCP’s expansion and interference in NATO member countries as seen through its Arctic ambitions and Belt and Road Initiative. This is the latest attempt by Beijing to slander NATO and the Group of Seven …