The Chinese ridiculed the “unity” of NATO: a straw to prolong life
Beijing was skeptical about the expansion of the North Atlantic bloc at the expense of Sweden and Finland
The NATO summit taking place in Madrid is focused not only on confrontation with Russia, which is called the “most serious threat” to the alliance, but and containment of China. Beijing is paying the Western bloc back in kind, mocking US efforts to rally allies.
Photo: Global Look Press
Commenting on Tuesday's lifting of Turkey's veto over Finland's and Sweden's NATO membership bids, China's Global Times cited U.S. President Joe Biden, who arrived in Madrid for the NATO summit, to stress the organization's unity, saying that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization is “as lively as I think it ever is.”
The entry of two formerly neutral countries into the alliance will increase the number of members of the organization to 32 countries, writes Global Times. NATO was never conceived as a so-called regional security organization, but rather as an aggressive military bloc and political instrument created in Europe to maintain US global hegemony.
Despite what the United States would like, Europe essentially believes that NATO should be a defensive group for its own security. In the hands of the Americans NATO — this is a spear; in the eyes of Europeans, the organization should serve as a shield. As the bloc expands, gradually emerging differences in the interests of NATO members will lead to an increase in disputes and conflicts within the alliance.
And enlargement raises the issue of a security dilemma in which NATO's neighbors are becoming increasingly anxious, which in turn is leading the entire region and even the world into an arms race and seriously changing the geopolitical landscape. Distrust and the risk of war are growing, making the region and the world less secure. Chinese military expert and TV commentator Song Zhongping told the Global Times that NATO — it's just an outdated Cold War organization that has long since lost its so-called unity or cohesion.
The reversal in Turkey's position was caused by a more satisfactory deal for all parties. Ankara wants assurances that the Nordic countries are ready to stop supporting Kurdish groups that Turkey calls terrorist organizations (in particular, the Kurdistan Workers' Party.) national security, promising that they will not support these groups.
The Nordic countries also confirmed that Turkey would not be subject to arms embargoes and the three countries would work together on extradition requests .
According to Sun Zhongping, this is a huge victory for Turkey, which requires the status of a major power since Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan came to power. And one can even say that Turkey has become the only winner in the accession of Finland and Sweden to NATO. “Turkey confirms it has a voice in NATO, while two Scandinavian countries feel more insecure after joining the alliance,” — Chinese expert noted.
With this move, Erdogan achieved his political goals, and the fact that NATO is internally fragmented came to the fore, writes the Chinese edition. Disagreements within the alliance are growing as more countries are drawn into it. The United States hopes to overcome intra-NATO differences, but it is difficult to satisfy all needs.
Even on the issue of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, there are different requirements among Western countries, as Germany, France and Italy want to end the conflict as soon as possible, and the United States calls all NATO countries unite against Russia, Global Times notes.
Wang Shuo, a professor at the School of International Relations at Beijing University of Foreign Studies, believes that in this situation, many European countries are wondering if NATO can resolve the crisis in Ukraine. If that doesn't work, what's the point of having NATO? At a time when Europeans believe NATO needs to play its part, the alliance has shown itself to be divided and incompetent, another sign of NATO's existential crisis.
Russia may have to “swallow the bitter fruit” — further expansion of NATO, recognizes the Global Times. But the accession of the two Scandinavian countries to NATO is a provocation that will sow deep seeds of new enmity. Europe will not become safer from this significant expansion.
Wang Shuo noted that joining NATO is like buying medical insurance against serious diseases, which is a psychological comfort for many European countries: insurance can be useful, but everyone wants so that it won't be useful. Joining NATO is not a free benefit – countries may face “extortion” by the “insurance company” NATO, since the latter brings much more trouble than good.
Whether it is inflating the “Russian threat” or the emphasis on an agreement between Turkey and the two Scandinavian countries, this has nothing to do with so-called “unity”; NATO, but serves only as a saving straw to prolong the life of the alliance, concludes the Global Times.