NATO | A Cold War relic

• The 2021 Brussels summit of the NATO, the NATO Leaders took decisions on a wide range of topics to address the current and future security challenges and NATO 2030 agenda.
• This included Russia’s pattern of aggressive behaviour, terrorism, cyberattacks and disruptive technologies, the rise of China, and the security implications of climate change.

Major Concerns & Potential sources of conflicts :-

• In the latest communiqué issued following the recent summit, NATO for the first time explicitly described China as a security risk. The communiqué notes China’s stated ambitions and assertive behaviour as presenting systemic challenges to the rules-based international order and to areas relevant to the NATO alliance’s security.
• The U.S. is trying to push NATO to take a stronger position towards China in line with the U.S.’s growing conviction of China being a threat to its global supremacy and the need for it to be contained.

• China has reacted strongly against this observation, called the statement a “slander”, and has warned against artificially creating confrontations.
• The other two threats identified by the NATO communiqué are on predictable lines: Russia and terrorism.

• Tensions with Russia are an inevitable outcome of NATO’s bid to expand eastward into what Russia considers its sphere of influence.
• Trying to bring countries such as Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova under the NATO umbrella was bound to cause a confrontation with Russia.

• Russia in a move which it claims sought to protect its interests, annexed Crimea and has stationed its troops in Georgia and Moldova. - This has increased concerns over the escalation of tensions in the region further.
• There is a significant difference, however, between a strategic focus on countering Russia and casting China as a “systemic challenge”.

Background Of NATO:

• NATO, the planet’s largest — and largest-ever — military alliance, was formed in 1949 by 12 Allied powers to counter the massive Soviet armies stationed in Eastern and Central Europe after Second World War.
• It is based on the Washington Treaty or North Atlantic Treaty which was signed in 1949 by 12 founding members.

• Collective defence is the major aspect of the Treaty and is enshrined in Article 5, whereby the member states agree to mutual defence in response to an attack by any external party.
• The collective defence principle states that “an attack against one ally is considered as an attack against all allies”.
• NATO’s essential and enduring purpose is to safeguard the freedom and security of all its members by political and military means.

Cold War era

• The formation of NATO, and its Soviet counterpart, the Warsaw Pact, in 1955, marked the beginning of the Cold War era.
• The refashioning rested on a paradigm shift — from collective defence, which implied a known adversary, to collective security, which is open-ended and might require action against any number of threats, including unknown ones and non-state actors.
• The membership and mandate of the organization have increased over the years, starting with 12 founding countries, NATO currently has 30 members.