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Nato leaders have warned that China poses “systemic challenges” to the rules-based international order, in a sign of growing western unease over Beijing’s military ambitions.

Members of the transatlantic alliance convening in Brussels on Monday cited activities such as disinformation, Chinese military co-operation with Russia and the rapid expansion of China’s nuclear arsenal as part of the threat, according to a Nato communiqué.

The strength of the statement shows how far relations between the west and Beijing have deteriorated in the 18 months since Nato countries last met. Then they had issued a cautious statement about the “opportunities and challenges” presented by China.

The tougher language at US president Joe Biden’s first Nato summit comes as members of the 72-year-old cold war-era military pact vowed to widen co-operation in new theatres of conflict from cyber space to outer space.

Five stories in the news

1. EDF seeks data review of possible China radiation leak The French state-backed utility said it was seeking to hold an extraordinary board meeting of its joint venture nuclear power plant in southern China after a report of a possible leak of ‘certain noble gases’. Noble gases are inert gases, such as helium, xenon and radon.

2. Toshiba board’s chair rebuffs calls to quit Osamu Nagayama on Monday rebuffed shareholder calls to resign and stressed his role was to address the turmoil at the Japanese company as the conglomerate lurched deeper into a governance crisis.

3. Father-son pair plead guilty to orchestrating Ghosn escape Michael Taylor, the 60-year-old former Green Beret, and his son Peter, 28, who were accused of orchestrating Carlos Ghosn’s elaborate escape from Japan via bullet train, private jet and musical equipment box have pleaded guilty in a Tokyo court. They face up to three years in prison.

4. JPMorgan’s investment banking boom JPMorgan Chase could be set for one of its strongest quarters for dealmaking fees, according to chief executive Jamie Dimon, helping compensate for anaemic loan growth and a slowdown in trading revenue at the bank.

• More banking news: ECU Group claimed in UK High Court that a “rotten culture” pervaded HSBC’s foreign exchange trading desk between 2004 and 2006, with bankers misusing confidential information to “front run” client orders. HSBC has denied’s the currency manger’s accusations of fraud and misconduct.

5. Lordstown Motors’ CEO and CFO resign The chief executive and chief financial officer of electric vehicle start-up Lordstown Motors have resigned less than a week after the company said it risked failing because of a lack of funds.

Coronavirus digest

• Boris Johnson delayed the full opening of the UK economy by four weeks because of a rise in coronavirus cases. The good news is Public Health England confirmed BioNTech/Pfizer and Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccines are more than 90 per cent effective in preventing hospital admissions from the Delta variant.

• In a rare interview, Chinese virologist Shi Zhengli said speculation of a lab leak at the Wuhan Institute of Virology is baseless. But China’s refusal to allow an independent investigation makes her claim difficult to validate.

• Morgan Stanley chief executive’s tough message to New York employees: “If you can go into a restaurant in New York City, you can come into the office and we want you in the office.”

• Novavax’s Covid-19 vaccine was 90 per cent effective in its late stage trial in the US and Mexico and proved it can tackle the virus variants of concern. (FT, NYT)

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The day ahead

Federal Reserve interest rate-setting meeting When US central bank officials convene today for their two-day monetary policy meeting, questions over whether the central bank should start talking about tapering its $120bn monthly bond-buying programme will lead the agenda.

• Opinion: How the Fed responds to the current spike in US inflation has consequences for its credibility, says Mohamed El-Erian.

US-EU Summit With Joe Biden attending a US-EU summit Tuesday, his administration has retained much more of the Trump policy than the EU would like, Alan Beattie notes in Trade Secrets. Sign up here to receive the newsletter in your inbox.

The FT Commodities Global Summit With some predicting a repeat of the commodity supercycle of the 2000s, the agenda of this year’s event starting today will assess how commodity traders will seize the new opportunities as markets evolve and fundamentals change. Register here.

What else we’re reading

Is it all over for Israel’s ‘comeback kid’? The dethronement of Benjamin Netanyahu has been slow and grinding. It took four stalemate elections in two years and a coalition of eight parties, to oust the prime minister of 12 years. But the new coalition is so fragile that some think the ousted leader could yet return.

The transition from Libor is painful but necessary For all the chaos of the transition away from the London Interbank Offered Rate — treasurers support the change. The metric, based on slim volumes of actual transactions, set by a small group of bankers from 20 lenders, was not fit to play such a gigantic role in global finance, writes FT’s Claire Jones.

Rumpled Boris, Macron’s mistake and other G7 sartorial missteps The diplomatic power of dress was on display at the Cornish summit. US financial editor and style columnist Rob Armstrong breaks down the summit’s winners and losers — on the merits of their suits that is.

Central banks weigh how to take on the crypto market Regulators and central banks are fighting for control of the monetary system as cryptocurrencies become an increasing challenge to fiat currencies, threatening to blunt the levers policymakers rely on to control the running of their economies.

US-China trade war bolstered China’s Shein Last month, the Chinese ecommerce platform became the most downloaded shopping app in the US — breaking Amazon’s 152-day streak. The success of the company, which has been valued at as much as $30bn, can be owed to a trade war-era change to China’s tax code. But a number of brands say Shein’s success has also been helped by “deliberate and calculated” trademark infringement. (Bloomberg, FT)

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