The NATO summit concluded in Madrid, Spain.
Before the meeting, the NATO secretary general made a high-profile statement, saying that Russia will be positioned as the "most important and direct threat" in NATO's "new strategic concept", which will be updated every ten years, while China is a "systemic challenge".
After the G7 communiqué mentioned China many times, NATO will define China as a "systemic challenge" in the "New Strategic Concept" which will be updated every ten years.
For the first time, China is officially listed as "one of the strategic priorities for the next decade," which must be dominated by the United States.
The United States believes that China is the only strategic adversary capable and willing to challenge the United States on a global scale.
Since it is the first time, this should be regarded as a "major achievement" for Biden.
But it is also worth noting that NATO's new strategic vision, which is the first update in 10 years.
It embodies the collective values and strategic objectives of NATO and contains a collective assessment of the current and future security situation.
The new NATO strategic vision also defines Russia as the "most significant and immediate security threat" to NATO allies.
In other words, the strategic priorities of the United States and NATO are not on the same channel.
The Secretary-General of NATO has claimed that he will expand the rapid response force on a large scale, from 40,000 people on active duty to 300,000 people, to enhance the "collective deterrent force". Is it to deter China or point to Russia?
U.S. President Joe Biden attends the NATO summit in Madrid, Spain, on June 29, 2022.
At the summit, NATO's "new strategic concept" was updated for the first time in a decade.
(AP)
Biden's "intent" in China
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken also specifically responded to the definition of China as a "systemic challenge" in NATO's updated "New Strategic Concept", emphasizing: "In this sense, NATO has come together. The strategic concept is basically our blueprint for the future of the world. For the first time, we have China as a focal point of the strategic concept, which is a concern of all NATO members. We are not looking for conflict, we are trying to ensure that together we maintain the A rules-based international order. No matter how China challenges this, we will stand up.”
It can be seen that the Biden administration is very concerned about defining China as a "systemic challenge" in the NATO strategy.
There has been a political consensus within the United States in recent years that China is regarded as a "challenge".
Although Biden emphasizes "competition," in fact, promoting the Indo-Pacific strategy is the focus of Biden's foreign strategy.
In the past month, Biden's diplomatic "going to the hole" has proved this.
In fact, the United States has been working on some kind of link between its Indo-Pacific allies and NATO.
Throughout 2021, the major NATO allies of the United States, including the United Kingdom, France, and Germany, have participated in Indo-Pacific affairs by sending aircraft carrier strike groups and warships and aircraft to the Indo-Pacific region.
U.S. President Joe Biden (center), South Korean President Yoon Seok-wyeh (left), and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida (right) held a summit meeting between the three countries during the NATO summit in Madrid on June 29.
The officials sitting behind Biden are White House National Security Adviser Sullivan, Secretary of State Blinken and Defense Secretary Austin.
(AP)
For nearly a year and a half, all of Biden's work has been focused on China.
Whether it's repairing relations with the EU, building new alliances, or launching various global initiatives.
Zheng Yongnian, dean of the Qianhai Institute of International Affairs at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (Shenzhen), pointed out that in their (US) narrative, a challenge to the US is a challenge to the "rules-based world order".
But the question is, is America the world order?
In the eyes of China, all countries, big or small, are part of the world order; in the eyes of the United States, the American order is the world order.
It is the United States that is undermining or even abandoning the United Nations system that it has built and played a major role in.
This is the hegemonic logic of the United States, to create enemies in order to maintain its hegemony.
To some extent, this is a manifestation of the lack of confidence in the United States.
When the United States is confident, it declares "the end of history" and declares that its own system is the last and best system in human history; now that there is a problem with democracy and system in the United States, it has instead said that it is a problem of China, Russia or other countries.
European countries out of sync
But Biden is eager to advance the Indo-Pacific strategy. Is it possible for NATO to fully cooperate with the U.S. Indo-Pacific action?
For European countries, it is obvious that the top priority is to fully deal with Russia, that is, to end the conflict between Russia and Ukraine as soon as possible.
One reality is that NATO has no time to mobilize to help the United States suppress China or advance its Indo-Pacific strategy.
The United States can neither give up the proxy war with Russia nor shelve the advancement of the Indo-Pacific strategy.
Biden continues to escalate military support for Ukraine and escalates severe sanctions against Russia. The conflict between Russia and Ukraine is bound to be a long-term process.
This, on the contrary, forms a major constraint on the Indo-Pacific strategy.
And most European countries, neither wanting Russia to win, but also afraid of angering Russia too much, have actually shown obvious tiredness of the conflict in Ukraine.
In other words, at present, NATO cannot be unified on the Russian issue, nor can it be unified on the Indo-Pacific strategy.
The strategic goals of the United States and Europe are also very different.
In other words, NATO's new strategic concept cannot reflect the unity and strategic coherence of US-EU relations at all.
It is impossible for NATO countries, or European countries, to devote their forces to help the United States advance its Indo-Pacific strategy.
What's more, the EU has emphasized its own Indo-Pacific strategy from the very beginning.
The EU's "EU Indo-Pacific Cooperation Strategy" announced in 2021 is indeed based on the consideration of balancing China's practical interests. Compared with the United States and others, the EU's "Indo-Pacific" strategy as a whole has a much lower color of containing China and directly confronting China.
Zelensky inspects the fighting scene in Butcha, near Kyiv.
How to effectively deal with the conflict between hunger and Ukraine is the most difficult and urgent thing for European countries.
(AP)
On the surface, Biden is eager to advance the Indo-Pacific strategy. This time China is defined as a "systemic challenge" in NATO's strategy, which may mean that NATO may muddy the waters in the future.
But is it possible for NATO to fully cooperate with the U.S. Indo-Pacific action?
Most European countries are overwhelmed.
Here comes the problem.
Is the US leading NATO to fully respond to the Russian "threat"?
Or is NATO helping the US to meet China's "challenge"?
In fact, this strategic blueprint further reveals that the national strategic priorities of the United States and NATO's strategic priorities are not on the same channel.
NATO lists China as a systemic challenge China's diplomatic mission in Europe: pay close attention to coordinating the response to NATO's announcement of a new strategy document that China poses a systematic challenge Beijing: provoking political confrontation KCNA: US attempts to create an "Asian version of NATO" Document Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs: New bottle of old wine does not change the Cold War mentality