Representatives of NATO member states gathered in Madrid on Tuesday (June 28) for a summit that will go on till Thursday. They will be finalising their first strategic concept document since 2010, which will lay out the present challenges faced by the alliance and its strategy for the future.
The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) was first established by the United States, Canada, and some other Western countries in 1949, in response to the perceived threat of the Soviet Union’s expansion in post-war Europe.
With Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24, the foundational aim of the alliance has been reinvigorated, more than 70 years after its inception.
New Strategic Concept
During the summit, NATO officials will approve of the alliance’s new ‘Strategic Concept’, a key document that “outlines NATO’s enduring purpose and nature, its fundamental security tasks, and the challenges and opportunities it faces in a changing security environment”.
The document also “specifies the elements of the Alliance’s approach to security and provides guidelines for its political and military adaptation”.
The last strategic concept, released in 2010, stated that “we want to see a true strategic partnership between NATO and Russia”. The new strategic concept is in sharp contrast, identifying Russia as “the most immediate threat to our security”, the Economist reported.
Increased military presence in Eastern Europe
With Russia established once again as the biggest threat to the alliance, member states will be discussing how they can best support Ukraine and strengthen their military presence on NATO’s eastern frontier.
In light of the Russia-Ukraine war, NATO officials have announced that the alliance will increase its high readiness forces to 300,000 troops. This is part of the “biggest overhaul of our collective defence and deterrence since the Cold War”, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Monday.
Since the beginning of the war, 40,000 troops had already deployed, mostly on the eastern border, Deutsche Welle reported.
Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania too are demanding a larger presence of forces, fearful of a Russian invasion. Currently, there are only 1,500 rotating NATO troops deployed in these countries.
The New York Times reported that these countries are seeking the permanent deployment of troops in order to deter a potential Russian invasion.
The Associated Press reported that the summit is ready to agree to stockpile weapons in Eastern Europe and to increase its military presence in the region. There will also be further support for Ukraine to upgrade much of its Soviet-era military equipment to NATO-standard weaponry.
At the same time, NATO would not like to directly provoke Russia. President Vladimir Putin has issued threats that have been interpreted as indicating his willingness to use nuclear weapons if pushed to the wall by the West.
The question of NATO’s expansion
Another key issue will be Sweden and Finland’s bid to join NATO. The historically neutral Nordic countries had first applied to join the alliance in May, in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
US and European officials are particularly hopeful of Finland’s entry — if that happens, NATO’s borders with Russia would more than double, adding close to 1,300 km of frontier, according to the US-based think tank Council on Foreign Relations (CRF). NATO’s presence in the Baltic Sea and Arctic Sea would be strengthened too.
Admission to NATO requires the approval of all 30 member states. But Turkey, a member of NATO since 1952, and the country with the second largest military force in the alliance, has repeatedly opposed the entry of Finland and Sweden. Turkey has accused the two countries of supporting Kurdish militant groups, which it deems to be terrorist organisations.
Stoltenberg, the NATO Secretary-General, held talks with leaders from the three countries on Tuesday.
“Turkey has legitimate security concerns over terrorism that we need to address,” the AP quoted Stoltenberg as saying. “So we will continue our talks on Finland and Sweden’s applications for NATO membership, and I look forward to finding a way forward as soon as possible,” he said.
Newsletter | Click to get the day’s best explainers in your inbox
The question of how to deal with China
While Russia’s invasion of Ukraine remains the key issue at the summit, NATO’s new security concept will for the first time deal with the growing influence of China, which Stoltenberg said impacts “our security, interests and values”.
With Japan, South Korea, Australia, and New Zealand invited to the summit for the first time, discussions are expected to be held on NATO’s influence in the Indo-Pacific region, where China is aggressively pushing to expand its footprint.
The US and Britain are reported to have sought more forceful language against China in the new strategic concept document. Other nations like France and Germany, however, want China to be described as a “challenge” to the security alliance, and not as a “threat” like Russia, The Washington Post reported.
Jens Plötner, foreign policy adviser to Olaf Scholz, Germany’s Chancellor, on June 21 cautioned against lumping China and Russia together, stating, “I believe our goal must be to try to reduce systemic rivalry [with China] as far as possible,” The Economist reported.
