[ad_1]
When they meet on Monday, China’s military and economic presence in the Atlantic region is expected to spark a strange warning from NATO leaders when they meet on Monday.
From Russia’s probing with China to the Western concern that China wants to establish military bases in Africa, NATO’s view reflects China’s dominance among Western foreign policy concerns, particularly that of U.S. President Joe Biden.
“This is not ‘NATO going to China,'” said Claudia Major, a defense analyst at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs. “China will come to Europe and we will have to do something.”
In 2015, military drilling with Russia brought the Chinese navy to the Mediterranean and the heart of Europe for the first time. Since then, China has built it largest naval fleet they invested in the world and in critical European infrastructures, including ports and telecommunications networks.
“China [through its navy] It has penetrated the Indian Ocean, the Gulf, the Red Sea and the Mediterranean, ”said a British military official who said China had not yet deployed submarines in the North Atlantic, but could do so in the future.
“You build nuclear submarines inside and out. And China likes to test its borders. ”
The joint forecast made by the transatlantic security alliance, diplomats said, was still being discussed and could change, as it will be the second time NATO leaders have addressed the Chinese issue head-on. The first was in December 2019, at the insistence of the Donald Trump administration.
But it is understood that Biden encouraging harder language it was used at the time rather than crude terminology for “opportunities and challenges”.
However, how to deal with the problem is a dilemma for the 30-member group that was originally created in 1949 to deal with the threats of the Cold War era.
Inside, NATO countries are divided on how to treat China: Hungary’s member, especially has good political relations With Beijing.
It is also reluctant to deal with Beijing in its Pacific region – despite the UK and France continuing to transport ships that have followed the US exercises in freedom of navigation In the South China Sea.
The military operation with China along with Russia is considered by some NATO members to be an unpleasant development. In addition to conducting annual military exercises in Beijing and Moscow, they have recently added joint simulations for missile defense and training for internal security forces.
“Theirs [the Chinese/Russian] the relationship is transactional and pragmatic rather than ideological, “said a UK military official.” But working together in any way gives us confidence. And trust is something we should be careful about. “
As the New York Security Center, a group of two U.S. parties, warned January report: “Where the interests of Russia and China coincide, Moscow and Beijing can coordinate their joint capabilities to challenge US foreign policy.”
Another NATO anxiety It’s Africa, Which could be used by China to expand its military presence in the Atlantic, within its long-term goal of becoming a truly global armed force.
Stephen Townsend Gen, Head of the U.S. African Command, he told the U.S. Senate in April He described what he described as a Chinese effort to establish militarily useful naval facilities on the west coast of Africa as “the main concern of global power competition”. “I’m talking about the port where weapons can be armed and ammunition repaired,” he said.
Chinese military experts said there was still no evidence that Beijing was trying to establish such a West African base. However, China has done it a base in Djibouti and has already used international anti-piracy missions in the Gulf of Aden to train thousands of military personnel and build military relations with countries outside its usual neighborhood.
Every time a sea contingent ends its expansion, for example, it usually makes a detour on its way home. Some have visited the Mediterranean and the east and west coasts of Africa.
Another trend that is upsetting NATO allies is the growing involvement of Chinese companies in critical infrastructure in Europe, such as telecommunications company Huawei.
Cosco is also owned by the Chinese State Shipping Company Control stake in Piraeus, The largest port in Greece, and is said to be in talks to invest in a terminal in the port of Hamburg.
Such economic ties hamper NATO’s efforts to create a unified vision for China – just like the political relations between Beijing and friendly European leaders.
This creates the potential for clashes, with Washington and Jens Stoltenberg, NATO’s secretary general, taking a tougher stance over the past month. he warned that China was “coming to us” in cyberspace, areas such as Africa and the Arctic.
“There is a risk that having this debate within NATO will reveal very uncomfortable differences between allies, about what China perceives as a real threat,” said Sarah Raine, an expert in Geopolitics and Strategy at the International Institute for Strategic Research.
“It’s true that there are countries that see hawks as making very pro-China arguments within NATO, at least strong ones, but not facing them.”
Additional report by Washington’s Katrina Manson
[ad_2]
Source link
