NATO will face China’s growing ‘challenge’ for the first time today as leaders lay out a new long-term plan for the alliance at a summit in Spain.
Defense ministers meeting in Madrid will describe Beijing as “a challenge to our interests, our security and our values” in strategy documents setting out priorities for the next 10 years, the first of which is being discussed by the Russia-centric group named.
Jen Stoltenberg, head of NATO, said Moscow would remain a top priority as its allied troops increased their readiness in Eastern Europe from 40,000 to 300,000, but added that “other threats and challenges we need to address have not disappeared.”
Meanwhile, G7 leaders meeting in Germany are preparing to conclude their summit – which was also dominated by Russia – today with a joint statement condemning ‘harmful’ Chinese trade practices, in another sign of the changing times.
NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said the alliance would agree to tackle China’s growing ‘challenge’ for the first time in new strategy papers released today
G-7 leaders end their summit in Germany with a statement condemning ‘harmful’ Chinese trade practices, as a sign of shifting priorities
World leaders will “release a collective statement, which is unprecedented in the context of the G7, acknowledging the damage caused by China’s non-transparent, market-distorting industrial regulations,” a US official said.
Meanwhile, Stoletnberg, who spoke to the Financial Times before the NATO summit, insisted that the alliance does not see China as an ‘adversary’.
But, he added, ‘we need to consider the consequences of China’s heavy investment in military capabilities, long-range nuclear weapons and efforts to take control of our critical infrastructure when addressing how to ensure NATO’s most successful alliance in history.’
Beijing is investing heavily in new naval forces, including aircraft carriers and militarized island bases, in an effort to project power into the South China Sea.
It also increasingly threatens Taiwan – an island nation that views Beijing as a breakaway province, and which has threatened Xi Jinping to ‘reunite’ by force.
President Biden has indicated that competition with China in the eastern Pacific is his top priority, and has forged new alliances in the region to counter Beijing’s growing power there.
The refocus of NATO’s attention is part of the same effort, but also reflects the fact that China and Russia are increasingly working together in the region – including holding joint naval exercises there.
Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping, though not allies, have stepped up their cooperation in recent months, with Beijing providing tactical support to Moscow’s war in Ukraine (file)
NATO says Russia will remain its top priority as it increases the number of troops on high alert in Eastern Europe from 40,000 to 300,000 (file image)
Japan, which has recently been embroiled in disputes with Russia over a disputed island chain, will be invited to participate in the NATO summit, despite not being a member as a global power shift .
Representatives from Georgia – caught in a frozen conflict with Russia – and Australia, New Zealand and South Korea – who are increasingly clashing with China – were also invited.
Meanwhile, G7 leaders who concluded a summit in Germany have agreed to push for a new series of sanctions against Russia over its war in Ukraine, including a possible price restriction on oil exports, a ban on gold sales and the punishment of tariffs on other products.
G7 nations, which generate almost half of the world’s economic output, want to increase pressure on Russia without inciting already rising inflation causing domestic tensions and destroying developing nations.
There is a ‘real risk’ of multiple famines this year as the war in Ukraine exacerbates the negative impact of climate crises and the COVID-19 pandemic on food security, United Nations Chief Antonio Guterres said last week .
The G7 will commit up to $ 5 billion to improve global food security, the senior US official said, with the United States providing more than half of that amount, which will go to efforts to fight hunger in 47 countries and fund regional organizations .
The G7 has also agreed to fight $ 5 billion to fight food insecurity caused by the war in Ukraine, as well as a new round of sanctions against Russia to punish Putin for starting the invasion
The G7 seeks to bring together emerging nations, many with close ties to Russia, to oppose Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, and has invited five large middle- and low-income democracies to the summit to win them over.
Some are more concerned about the impact of rising food prices on their populations, blaming Western sanctions, not Russia’s invasion of one of the world’s largest grain producers and blocking its ports, for the shortages.
Asked if G7 leaders had found a way to get Ukraine to export its grain, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Tuesday: “We are working on it, we are all working on it.”
G7 leaders have also agreed to take a more coordinated approach to challenging China’s market-distorting practices in world trade, US officials said.
“You will see leaders release a collective statement, which is unprecedented in the context of the G7, acknowledging the damage caused by China’s non-transparent, market-distorting industrial regulations,” the official said on Tuesday.
One of their commitments was to accelerate efforts to remove forced labor, including state-sponsored forced labor, from global supply chains, the official added.