NATO must think harder about how to handle China and its military rise, although Russia would remain its main adversary during this decade, a report on reforming the Atlantic alliance published yesterday said.
NATO 2030, prepared by a group of so-called “wise persons” and containing 138 proposals, comes amid growing doubts about the purpose and relevance of an alliance branded last year by French President Emmanuel Macron as “brain dead.”
“China is no longer the benign trading partner that the West had hoped for. It is the rising power of our century and NATO must adapt,” said one NATO diplomat who had seen the report prior to its publication, pointing to Chinese activity in the Arctic and Africa and to its heavy investments in European infrastructure.
Photo: Reuters
Part of NATO’s response should be maintaining a technological advantage over China, protecting computer networks and infrastructure, the diplomat said, citing the report, although not all recommendations would be adopted.
The 30-member alliance could also forge closer ties with non-NATO countries such as Australia and focus more on deterrence in space, where China is developing assets, the report said.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg on Monday said that China’s rise posed “important challenges to our security.”
“China is investing massively in new weapons. It is coming closer to us, from the Arctic to Africa. China does not share our values ... and tries to intimidate other countries,” he told a news conference in Brussels, urging allies to come together on the issue.
NATO should consider including China in NATO’s official master strategy document, its “Strategic Concept,” diplomats cited the report as saying, although it stopped short of declaring the country an adversary.
In other recommendations, the report suggested that NATO foreign ministers meet more regularly and called for a strengthening of the secretary-general’s role as an international mediator.
The report was scheduled to be discussed by NATO foreign ministers yesterday before being presented to the alliance’s heads of state and government next year.
Tensions over NATO’s ability to act remain, from anger over Turkey’s decision to buy a Russian weapons system to US doubts over Europe’s commitment to its own defense, to US President Donald Trump’s call for it to do more in the Middle East.
However, Eastern European allies, fearful of Russia since Moscow’s 2014 annexation of Crimea from Ukraine, are concerned about shifting too many resources away from NATO’s core task of defending Europe.
CHINESE REACTION
In Beijing yesterday, Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Hua Chunying (華春瑩) said China hoped NATO would adopt the correct outlook toward the country.
She told a regular briefing at the ministry that China stood ready to engage in dialogue with the alliance.
PROVOCATIVE: Chinese Deputy Ambassador to the UN Sun Lei accused Japan of sending military vessels to deliberately provoke tensions in the Taiwan Strait China denounced remarks by Japan and the EU about the South China Sea at a UN Security Council meeting on Monday, and accused Tokyo of provocative behavior in the Taiwan Strait and planning military expansion. Ayano Kunimitsu, a Japanese vice foreign minister, told the Council meeting on maritime security that Tokyo was seriously concerned about the situation in the East China and South China seas, and reiterated Japan’s opposition to any attempt to change the “status quo” by force, and obstruction of freedom of navigation and overflight. Stavros Lambrinidis, head of the EU delegation to the UN, also highlighted South China Sea
The final batch of 28 M1A2T Abrams tanks purchased from the US arrived at Taipei Port last night and were transported to the Armor Training Command in Hsinchu County’s Hukou Township (湖口), completing the military’s multi-year procurement of 108 of the tanks. Starting at 12:10am today, reporters observed more than a dozen civilian flatbed trailers departing from Taipei Port, each carrying an M1A2T tank covered with black waterproof tarps. Escorted by military vehicles, the convoy traveled via the West Coast Expressway to the Armor Training Command, with police implementing traffic control. The army operates about 1,000 tanks, including CM-11 Brave Tiger
China on Wednesday teased in a video an aircraft carrier that could be its fourth, and the first using nuclear power, while making an allusion to Taiwan and vowing to further build up its islands, as it looks to boost maritime power, secure resources and bolster territorial claims. The video, issued on the eve of the 77th founding anniversary of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy, featured fictional officers with names that are homophones of three commissioned aircraft carriers, the Liaoning (遼寧), Shandong (山東) and Fujian (福建). Titled Into the Deep, it showed a 19-year-old named “Hejian” (何劍) joining the group, sparking
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, said it expects its 2-nanometer (2nm) chip capacity to grow at a compound annual rate of 70 percent from this year to 2028. The projection comes as five fabs begin volume production of 2-nanometer chips this year — two in Hsinchu and three in Kaohsiung — TSMC senior vice president and deputy cochief operating officer Cliff Hou (侯永清) said at the company’s annual technology symposium in Silicon Valley, California, last week. Output in the first year of 2-nanometer production, which began in the fourth quarter of last year, is expected to
RSS