Jehangir Hussain :
The NATO summit in Brussels saw discordant notes on the China issue. At the 30 nation NATO summit in Brussels held on Monday June 14, a day after the G 7 summit ended in Carbis Bay, U K, some of the allies openly differed with Nato effort to speak out against China.
German chancellor Angela Merkel said Nato’s decision to described China as a threat ‘should not be overstated because Beijin, like Moscow, is also a partner in some areas’.
She also pointed out, ‘when you look at the cooperation between RUSSIA AND China, you can’t ignore China’.
Merkel said, it was important to ‘find the right balance’ as China was also a partner on many issues. China is Germany’s top trading partner.
French president Emmanuel Macron requested Nato not to let China distract it from the other issues facing the alliance.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that there were risks and rewards with Beijing and cautioned, ‘I don’t think anybody around the table wants to descend into a new Cold War with China.’
These were, no doubt, important discordant notes with the 79-para Brussels communique issued by Nato.
The communique said China’s goals and ‘assertive behaviour present systematic challenges to the rules rules-based international order and to areas relevant to alliance security.’
The communique expressed concern about China’s ‘coerceive policies, the opaque ways it is modernizing its armed forces and using disinformation.’
In reply, a day after the Brussels summit, China accused Nato of ‘creating confrontations. The Chinese mission to the European Union , in a statement, requested Nato to ‘view China’s development rationally, stop exaggerating its ‘China threat theory’ and not to use China’s legitimate interests and legal interest as excuses for manipulating group politics’. The language in the communique, said China, ‘slandered its reputations’.
The Brussels communique declared China a constant security challenge and accused China of working to undermine global order in line with US president Joe Biden’s efforts to get allies to speak out against China’s trade, military and human rights practices. There were other subtle differences in Europe’s ties with the US, asked for her comments on election of Joe Biden, Merkel told reporters that a new US president ‘doesn’t mean that the world no longer has problems’.
Italy’s Mario Draghi said, the general feeling was positive but realistic and the theme was, ‘what attitude the G7 should have toward China and other autocracies.’
Nato secretary general Jens Strtenberg said that the North Atlantic Treaty had to be prepared against China’s growing presence from the Baltic to Africa. Nato was established on April 4, 1949, as a bulwark against Soviet Union.
The Nato communique states, ‘We, the Heads of State and Government of the 30 NATO Allies, have gathered in Brussels to reaffirm our unity, solidarity, and cohesion, and to open a new chapter in transatlantic relations, at a time when the security environment we face is increasingly complex. NATO remains the foundation of our collective defence and the essential forum for security consultations and decisions among Allies. NATO is a defensive Alliance and will continue to strive for peace, security, and stability in the whole of the Euro-Atlantic area. We remain firmly committed to NATO’s founding Washington Treaty, including that an attack against one Ally shall be considered an attack against us all, as enshrined in Article 5. We will continue to pursue a 360-degree approach to protect and defend our indivisible security and to fulfil NATO’s three core tasks of collective defence, crisis management, and cooperative security.
‘We face multifaceted threats, systemic competition from assertive and authoritarian powers, as well as growing security challenges to our countries and our citizens from all strategic directions. Russia’s aggressive actions constitute a threat to Euro-Atlantic security; terrorism in all its forms and manifestations remains a persistent threat to us all. State and non-state actors challenge the rules-based international order and seek to undermine democracy across the globe. Instability beyond our borders is also contributing to irregular migration and human trafficking. China’s growing influence and international policies can present challenges that we need to address together as an Alliance. We will engage China with a view to defending the security interests of the Alliance. We are increasingly confronted by cyber, hybrid, and other asymmetric threats, including disinformation campaigns, and by the malicious use of ever-more sophisticated emerging and disruptive technologies. Rapid advances in the space domain are affecting our security. The proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and the erosion of the arms control architecture also undermine our collective security.
The communique said, Russia’s growing multi-domain military build-up, posed increasing threats to security of Euro-Atlantic area.
It said more assertive posture, novel military capabilities, and provocative activities, including near NATO borders, as well as its large-scale no-notice and snap exercises, the continued military build-up in Crimea, the deployment of modern dual-capable missiles in Kaliningrad, military integration with Belarus, and repeated violations of NATO Allied airspace, increasingly threaten the security of the Euro-Atlantic area were contributing to instability along NATO borders and beyond.
(Jehangir Hussain is a journalist. Email: [email protected]).
