European leaders dead worried about the return of Donald Trump to the White House later this year and the possibility of him moving the US away from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to accomplish his “Make American Great Again” goals, the former is taking steps to expand NATO to Asia to keep it relevant. Donald Trump has vowed more than once to counter China. He has also expressed optimism to use diplomacy to end the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Combined with his disdain for NATO, the resolution of the Russia-Ukraine conflict could erode NATO’s credibility and legitimacy. Therefore, European and NATO leaders, including the current US leadership, are expanding NATO to Asia. In their calculation, this would help keep NATO relevant, especially as a key component of Trump’s anti-China policies. Will this work as planned? An SCO challenge is emerging already.
NATO Ups the ante against China
A recent report in the New York Times said that the new NATO chief, Mark Rutte, will have to be “ready for Trump, if required”. A few days later, at the summit celebrating the alliance’s 75th anniversary in Washington and preparing for Trump, NATO formally accused China of supporting and supplying the Russian military effort in Ukraine. All 32 leaders of the alliance endorsed this statement. The statement said that China “cannot enable the largest war in Europe in recent history without this negatively impacting its interests and reputation,” adding that China’s “large-scale support for Russia’s defence industrial base” was proving to be the key to the NATO’s failure to defeat Russia.
This is nothing short of an extraordinary statement, especially........