NATO’s New Focus on China Creates Internal Tension About Mission Creep
NATO was created to deter Soviet tanks and missiles in Europe. Now it is also in the business of deterring China’s global ambitions, spurring concern among some members about mission creep and accusations by Beijing of inciting confrontation.
Leaders from Australia, New Zealand, South Korea and Japan—known as the Asia-Pacific Four—will attend the annual North Atlantic Treaty Organization summit meeting for the second successive year. On the agenda at the summit, set for next week in Lithuania, is increased cooperation in areas such as maritime and cybersecurity, with challenges from China front of mind.
NATO leaders say China’s moves to assert control in the South China Sea, a transit point for trillions of dollars of global trade each year, as well as its growing nuclear arsenal and cyberwarfare capabilities are now as much of a concern for Europe and North America as for Asian nations. “NATO is and will remain a regional alliance of North America and Europe," NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told The Wall Street Journal at NATO headquarters in Brussels.
“But this region faces global threats and we have to address them together with our global partners." NATO’s concern about China has grown quickly. The organization first expressed worries in a leaders’ statement in late 2019 and last year included a reference in its main guiding document, known as the Strategic Concept, for the first time.
China’s “stated ambitions and coercive policies challenge our interests, security and values," NATO said, citing Beijing’s military buildup and its efforts to use economic coercion, as well as its strategic partnership with Russia. Before the invasion of Ukraine, Russia and China said that their relationship would have “no
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