© Reuters/Kevin Lamarque
US President Joe Biden holds a news conference at the end of the NATO summit
Brussels, Belgium • June 14, 2021
There was plenty of talk about China at the latest meeting of NATO, a country far removed from the North Atlantic. Do we need any more proof that the organization is now just a vehicle for promoting American hegemony?
Following the weekend's G7 meeting, the NATO summit followed on Monday and predictably adopted a similar theme: China.
Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg denied that the West was in a "Cold War" with Beijing, but nonetheless proceeded to say
China presented "systemic challenges" due to its rising capabilities, which posed a threat to the security of the alliance.
Beijing hit back by claiming NATO was obsessed with the
"China threat theory" and stirring up trouble, urging it to view the country's "development rationally."
So, is there a Cold War or not? It seems highly confusing for an organization that was itself funded to pursue a Cold War to subsequently deny it has similar intentions towards China.
On paper alone, none of it makes sense. NATO is, as its name suggests, a North Atlantic organization, yet it is focusing on a nation which is based on the other side of the world in East Asia. This makes
the idea that China is a risk to the alliance highly questionable. China does not have a military presence in the Atlantic, and is not looking to expand into the area.
Why, then, is Beijing a threat to NATO?
What is obvious is that
NATO is not so much a security organization for European states as it is a vehicle to prop up American hegemony.
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