Nato must tackle China’s rise

• 'Nasty' France 'insulting' Nato: Trump

• Erdogan threatens to block Nato's Baltic defence plan

• Trump says he will 'stay out' of UK polls

Nato must address the "security implications" of China's rise as a military power, the head of the alliance said yesterday, but insisted he did not want to make an adversary of Beijing.

His comment came after US President Donald Trump launched a blistering attack on French President Emmanuel Macron's criticism of the alliance.

Jens Stoltenberg said China's growing military capabilities -- including missiles that could hit Europe and the United States -- meant the alliance had to tackle the issue together.

The leaders of Nato's 29 member states kick off a two-day summit today where they are set to approve a report on how the alliance should approach China and its growing international assertiveness.

"We have now recognised that the rise of China has security implications for all allies," the Nato secretary general said at the event in London.

"China has the second largest defence budget in the world and has recently displayed a lot of new, modern capabilities including long-range missiles able to reach the whole of Europe and the United States."

Nato's defence remit is limited to Europe and North America, but Stoltenberg said China's influence was beginning to reach its shores.

"It's not about moving Nato into the South China Sea but about taking into account that China is coming closer to us in the Arctic, in Africa, investing heavily in our infrastructure in Europe, in cyberspace," he said.

Macron had tried to shake up the agenda for the London summit by branding the 70-year-old alliance "brain dead", but Trump slapped him down and warned that he could see Paris "breaking away" from Nato.

"I think that's very insulting," he said of Macron's comment, branding it a "very, very nasty statement essentially to 28 countries.

Asked whether the US alliance with Nato was shaky, Trump denied it, but said: "I do see France breaking off ... I see him breaking off."

The heat between US and France has increased significantly since Monday after Washington threatened Paris with sanctions over digital services tax. Washington says the tax is discriminatory, claiming that it singles out US tech giants such as Google and Facebook. The European Union yesterday said the block will answer tariff threats by the US against France "as one" and urged Washington to engage in dialogue.

If the Macron comments set an angry tone for the meeting, there are also expected to be clashes with Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan who has warned it will block a Nato plan to defend Baltic countries unless the alliance recognises a Kurdish militant group in Syria as terrorists.

Meanwhile, Trump yesterday said he would meet British Prime Minister Boris Johnson but promised to "stay out" of Britain's election campaign during his two-day visit.

"I don't want to complicate it," he said. "I think Boris is very capable and I think he will do a good job."