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US President Biden, NATO chief Stoltenberg
Photo: Adrian Wyld / imago images / ZUMA Press
Jens Stoltenberg is not known for publicly exhibited physicality. But next to Joe Biden, even the normally cold Norwegian Secretary General is thawing out. When the two greeted each other at the NATO summit in Brussels on Monday, they pressed their elbows together for almost a full second. Verbal caresses follow. NATO is not only important, says Biden, but "indispensable." In addition, Stoltenberg has shown "great leadership". The general secretary is clearly trying to suppress a big grin. He will not make it.
What a difference to Donald Trump. When Biden's predecessor came to his first NATO summit in Brussels in May 2017, he first pushed Montenegro's head of government out of the way during the photo session, then he brushed the allies down in front of the cameras and demanded “an enormous amount of money” from them. He later described the Germans as "bad, very bad".
Now, at least that's what NATO wants to show to the outside world, everything is fine again: America is back, the Alliance has risen from the "brain death" diagnosed by French President Emmanuel Macron.
Biden not only renews Trump's guarantee that he will stand by an ally in the event of an attack - he describes it as a "sacred duty."
After the summit, he will say that all the other heads of state and government understood one thing at the meeting: "America is back."
The US return will come at a price
Therefore, even before the summit, NATO let out a decision with a signal effect: An attack in space or out of space could in future trigger an alliance case.
The same applies in space as it is on land, on water, in the air and in cyberspace: An attack on one can be seen as an attack on everyone - and then everyone must respond.
But the new unity will have a price even under Biden.
On the one hand, the US continues to insist that the Europeans increase their defense spending significantly.
On the other hand, Biden is looking for allies against China in Europe.
Both of these threaten to become expensive, especially for Germany. Germany is still a long way from achieving the goal set in 2014 of increasing the defense budget in all NATO countries to two percent of economic output. The federal government has recently announced an increase to 1.5 percent by 2024. Germany will probably only reach two percent in 2030, as Merkel said after the summit.
The coming conflict between the West and Beijing could be even more expensive for Germany.
China is increasingly challenging the USA in the Indo-Pacific, Biden now wants to forge a front against Beijing - that was already indicated at the G7 summit at the weekend.
For some NATO members, whose economy is closely intertwined with the Chinese, this is extremely dangerous - especially for Germany and its export economy.
They therefore wanted to prevent overly martial rhetoric against Beijing.
Verbal contortions in the summit declaration
The result is verbal contortions. "China's declared goals and self-confident behavior harbor systemic challenges for the rules-based international order and for areas that are relevant to NATO security," the summit communiqué reads. A "Frankenstein sentence," as a NATO insider said.
At the same time, NATO accuses China of expanding its nuclear weapons arsenal, military cooperation with Russia and spreading disinformation. Stoltenberg became even clearer after the summit. China already has the second largest arms budget in the world and is investing massively in autonomous weapon systems and those with artificial intelligence. They could "change the nature of warfare in ways we have not seen before." Nevertheless, Stoltenberg emphasized that China is not an enemy, not even an adversary.
Chancellor Merkel also relies on this verbal dual track.
Sure, you can't just "negate China," said the Chancellor.
"But you shouldn't overestimate it either." You just have to find the right balance.
"China is a rival on many issues," said Merkel, but "also a partner on many issues".
Stoltenberg already regards it as a success that China is now so clearly mentioned in the summit communiqué.
The country is not mentioned at all in the current NATO strategy from 2010.
It wasn't until December 2019 that the country appeared for the first time in a NATO document.
It was a single sentence in a summit statement.
Now, just a year and a half later, China has risen to become a systemic rival.
Russia - there is broad consensus among NATO diplomats on this - currently poses a more direct threat.
"Russia's aggressive approach is a threat to Euro-Atlantic security," the summit document says.
Specifically, NATO accuses Moscow of developing short and medium-range nuclear weapons, disinformation campaigns and hacker attacks, meddling in the elections in the USA and other NATO states, and attacks on the territorial integrity of Ukraine.
At his meeting with Vladimir Putin on Wednesday he will offer the Russian president his cooperation, said Biden.
Should he refuse and continue his harmful activities, "we will respond in the same way".
But it is also clear that Russia may have a huge army of nuclear weapons, but its economic output is only slightly greater than that of Spain - and even it is primarily based on the sale of fossil fuels, the importance of which will decrease the closer Europe gets to climate neutrality .
In China, this much has been clear since Biden's summit debut, the USA and NATO see the long-term more dangerous opponent.
