NATO identifies Russia as “a threat” and refers to China as “a challenge” for the first time

Russia is the “most significant and direct threat to the security of the allies and to the peace and stability of the Euro-Atlantic area.” so pick it up the new Strategic Concept that the leaders of the NATO member countries have approved this Wednesday within the framework of the Madrid summit.

This roadmap, created to suit a new international security context defined by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, will mark the organization’s political and military development over the next decade.

It serves to replace the previous concept, signed in Lisbon in 2010 and where Russia appears as a “strategic partner”. Because in this new defensive strategy, NATO is abandoning the spirit of “cooperation” that has defined it in recent years in order to reinforce the defense and deterrence mechanisms. All with the aim of protecting “every inch of allied territory”, as US President Joe Biden pointed out yesterday.

Eyes on Russia and China

If NATO makes anything clear in the text, it is that one of its most important tasks is “preserve the sovereignty and territorial integrity” to “prevail over any aggressor.” It is “The guide for a more competitive world”, said the secretary general of the organization, Jens Stoltenberg, on his Twitter account.

The new document sets aside “cooperation” to focus on defense and deterrence

Thus, Russia is pointed out as responsible for initiating an unjustified aggression in Eastern Europe. Also of wanting to “establish spheres of influence and direct control through coercion, aggression and annexation” in neighboring countries.

[El despliegue de España en la OTAN que Biden alaba: cazas, fragatas y 1.477 soldados en 5 misiones]

China does not come off very well either. The Asian giant appears for the first time in NATO’s military strategy and does so as “challenge”. The text accuses Beijing of using a wide range of “political, economic and military tools to increase their power”.

Specifically, the text highlights that China’s “declared ambitions and coercive policies” “challenge” the interests, security and values ​​of the Alliance.

“China uses a wide range of political, economic and military resources to strengthen its footprint on a global scale and increase and project its power while maintaining an opaque attitude about its strategy, intentions and military development,” it adds.

Likewise, the relationship it has with the Kremlin is mentioned. An alliance that, according to the organization, is aimed at “subvert the rules of international orderin all domains: space, cyberspace and the sea.” “The strategic partnership between Russia and China and its attempts to undermine the rules on which the international order is based go against our values ​​and interests,” it says.

Without mention of Ceuta and Melilla

Spain, as host of the NATO Summit, has spent months insisting that the Alliance take into account the “threats on the southern flank”. And it seems that the work has paid off.

In point 11 of the document it is mentioned that “conflicts, fragility and instability in Africa and the Middle East directly affect the security of allies”. Specifically, reference is made to North Africa and the Sahel regions facing “security, demographic, economic and political crises”. However, Ceuta and Melilla do not appear explicitly in the document.