NATO to toughen G7 message on China

Members aim to show that the seven-decades-old defence alliance remains a central support for U.S. efforts to uphold peace and democracy around the world, including standing up to China and its rapid military rise.

"China is coming closer to us. We see them in cyber space, we see China in Africa, in the Artic but we also see China investing heavily in our own critical infrastructure ," NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said as he arrived for the one-day summit in Brussels.

Diplomats said the NATO summit's final communique would not call China an adversary - and Stoltenberg said China was not an enemy - but would demonstrate concern, calling it a "systemic" challenge to Atlantic security as it joins Russia with military drills, launches cyber attacks and rapidly builds up its navy.