[D66] [JD: 113] NATO summit threatens China, at US instigation | WSWS

[R.O.]

    NATO summit threatens China, at US instigation


          Andre Damon <https://www.wsws.org/en/authors/Andre-Damon>


          3 hours ago

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Members of the 30-nation NATO alliance concluded their summit Monday
with a communique targeting China, declaring that it poses “systemic
challenges” to the military alliance.

The wording of the document marked a significant new stage in the
efforts of the United States to, in the words of US President Biden,
“organize the world to take on China,” as part of a massive escalation
of tensions by Washington against Beijing.

US tanks are unloaded in Antwerp, Belgium to take part in the Atlantic
Resolve military exercises. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

The 79-paragraph NATO communiqué mentions China a dozen times, in a
marked contrast from previous statements. The current NATO strategy
document, first published in 2010, does not reference China, and the
2019 communique mentions the country only once.

“The strength of the statement shows how far relations between the West
and Beijing have deteriorated in the 18 months since NATO countries last
met,” noted the /Financial Times/. “Now, just a year and a half later,
China has risen to become a systemic rival,” commented Germany’s /Der
Speigel/.

“China’s growing influence and international policies can present
challenges that we need to address together as an alliance,” the NATO
document states. “We will engage China with a view to defending the
security interests of the alliance.”

The communiqué says that China presents “systemic challenges to the
rules-based international order,” claiming that China is expanding its
military forces and seeking to cooperate with Russia.

Biden’s efforts to recruit Washington’s allies against China is the
diplomatic aspect of US efforts to strangle China’s economic
development, demonize it in the eyes of the world’s population and
prepare for military conflict.

On Wednesday, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin issued a directive
declaring China to be the “number one” focus of the US military.
/Foreign Policy/ commented that the review sought “to infuse the
Pentagon, and indeed the entire U.S. government, with the overarching
goal of bracing for long-term strategic competition with China.”

As /Foreign Policy/ noted: “That’s been a constant refrain for Biden
even before he took office, framing China’s rise as the United States’
central challenge of the century. Unless the United States regains its
competitive and technological edge, Biden warned, China is ‘going to eat
our lunch.’”

Foreword to the German edition of David North’s /Quarter Century of War/
Johannes Stern, 5 October 2020

After three decades of US-led wars, the outbreak of a third world war,
which would be fought with nuclear weapons, is an imminent and concrete
danger.

<https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/10/05/book-o05.html>

Last week, the US Senate passed the so-called “China competitiveness
bill,” a massive $250 billion package of corporate subsidies and
sanctions that the /New York Times/ termed “the most significant
government intervention in industrial policy in decades.”

The NATO summit followed the weekend’s G7 meeting, which, in the words
of the /FT/, “criticised China over human rights, trade and a lack of
transparency over the origins of the coronavirus pandemic.”

After the NATO summit, Biden was set to fly to Geneva to meet Wednesday
with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Ahead of the summit, Biden
declared, “What I’ll convey to President Putin is that I’m not looking
for conflict with Russia.” Biden described the Russian president as
“bright,” “tough” and a “worthy adversary.”

Ahead of the summit, Biden refused to back Ukraine’s admission to NATO,
declaring, in a non-sequitur, “School’s out on that question, it remains
to be seen. … They have more to do.”

Despite the US’s insistence on threats against China, the NATO
communiqué remained aggressively tilted against Russia, mentioning it 60
times.

While the US’s NATO allies agreed to its demands for more belligerent
language against China in its communiqué, there remain significant
differences over Washington’s diplomatic offensive against China.

“I don’t think anybody around the table today wants to descend into a
new Cold War with China,” UK President Boris Johnson said.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel added, “one must not overrate” the
threat posed by China, declaring, “we need to find the right balance.”

And NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg insisted Beijing was “not an
adversary” but said the alliance needed to “engage with China to defend
our security interests.”

As Germany’s /Der Spiegel/ commented: “For some NATO members, whose
economy is closely intertwined with that of China, however, this is
extremely dangerous—especially for Germany and its export economy. They
therefore wanted to prevent overly martial rhetoric against Beijing.”

As Reuters pointed out:

    Allies are mindful of their economic links with China. Total German
    trade with China in 2020 was more than 212 billion euros ($257
    billion), according to German government data. Total Chinese
    holdings of U.S. Treasuries as of March 2021 stood at $1.1 trillion,
    according to U.S. data, and total U.S. trade with China in 2020 was
    $559 billion.

But, for all that, /Der Spiegel/ declared: “In China—this much has been
clear since Biden’s summit debut—the USA and NATO see the long-term more
dangerous opponent.”

Despite their differences and contradictions, the United States and its
NATO allies are barreling headlong into a major escalation against China
with potentially catastrophic consequences.

Despite a raging pandemic, all of the NATO members are massively
expanding their militaries. Earlier this year, the UK announced a 40
percent expansion of its nuclear arsenal, while the Biden administration
has requested the largest Pentagon budget in human history.

The massive military buildup currently underway, combined with US
threats against China, present an immense danger to all mankind.

With a frankness entirely missing from the US press, Russia’s Ambassador
to China Andrey Denisov spoke with China’s /Global Times/ about the
consequences of a US war with China.

Denisov was asked by the /Global Times/: “Competition and confrontation
between China and the US are escalating. If one day an armed conflict
between China and the US happens, what position would Russia take?”

Denisov replied that there “will be no answer to this,” because “such a
conflict would exterminate all mankind, and then there would be no point
in taking sides.”

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