A discredited NATO sets its sights on stopping China’s growth

The NATO summit in Washington has made clear the Alliance’s support for its main partners in the Indo-Pacific -Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand-, with whom it shares the interest in stopping China and North Korea as its relations with Russia increase the risk to the interests of the war bloc.

NATO, born 75 years ago to provide security to the North Atlantic area in a context of cold war with the Soviet Union, has been strengthening its cooperation for years with Australia, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea, known as the IP4 group, but that relationship has intensified and its líderis participating in an important way in a summit for the third consecutive year once morest the background of an increasingly militarily powerful China.

If NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg yesterday made harsh statements once morest China for its “responsibility” in the war in Ukraine, today he expressed concern regarding the strengthened relationship between Russia and North Korea, which is the subject of “regular discussions.” ” between both groups.

Stoltenberg yesterday accused China of “propping up the Russian war economy” by supplying Moscow with technology and microchips used to attack Ukraine, something that Beijing described today as a “baseless” complaint by NATO, which seeks to “establish an imaginary enemy to justify its expansion and power.”

Since the start of the war in Ukraine, China has assumed an equidistant position and dialogue with both parties, which the West interprets as fuel for the growing tensions between the Asian country and NATO due to other factors such as Chinese military expansion, its influence economic and its relationship with Russia.

This morning, when receiving South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol, Stoltenberg stressed fears regarding military cooperation between Russia and North Korea, strengthened following the agreement they signed last month and which, he suggested, might result in “support for Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile programs.

The importance of the Indo-Pacific partners for the Alliance was also reflected in the meeting of their líderIt is on the sidelines of the summit with the host, US President Joe Biden, where they “strongly condemned” the “illicit” arms transfers from Pyongyang to Moscow.

The líderen IP4 also participated in a session with the 32 heads of State and Government of NATO, plus the European Union, focused on China’s role in the “Russian war economy.”

The Estonian Prime Minister, Kaja Kallas, future head of European diplomacy, warned there that the cooperation or relationship between the allied countries and their partners in the Pacific with Beijing might be “very harmed if China continues to support Russia in this war.” ”.

China has categorically denied accusations of military cooperation with Russia in Ukraine, but NATO had already decided that the next step is to direct its batteries once morest the Asian giant, given the fear that its enormous growth causes the United States and its European allies.