NATO is officially noticing China quite a bit now. Which is odd, isn't it?
Is this an attempt to coax Russia into NATO by extending NATO's horizon to the Amur River? I'm skeptical that NATO states that seem uninterested in defending the borders of the Baltic states would want to defend the frontier of Russia's 19th century land grab in the Far East.
Is it an attempt to persuade Russia to stop viewing NATO as the
main enemy because NATO doesn't see Russia as the main enemy? That's
possible. It make make it harder for Russia to disguise its appeasement of China with bizarre raised-voice hostility toward NATO.
But China is not a military problem for NATO. I seriously doubt NATO would ever send many forces to Asia--even Central Asia.
Or it this simply an effort to rally NATO countries against Chinese espionage, diplomatic bullying, and economic leverage? Which is useful, of course, and prompted by Chinese aggressiveness in all those areas, on top of the Xi Jinping Flu duplicity which has affected NATO. As the initial article notes:
China certainly does not rise to the level of concern that Russia evokes, a nation that has invaded two non-NATO European nations in the last twelve years, but there is a growing awareness of how much leverage China can wield over individual NATO members. As a concession to an uncertain future, what the 2030 strategy document does not address, is how much of NATO's focus will be against China's military, economic, or political assets.
NATO is a military alliance and the objectives of this official NATO attention is not really military in nature. Which is a pretty damning commentary on the political European Union that seems like it prefers to suck up to China.
The EU is a threat to America. And given the EU's effort to undermine NATO (and so reduce America's presence and influence) by seeking a duplicative EU military capability, a good counter-attack against the EU ambitions by NATO.
So I guess not so odd, after all. Well played, really. Perhaps the reason for modern NATO can be described as keeping the Chinese out, the Russians down, and the Americans in.
