Borrell Says NATO Has Enough Challenges Already Without China

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 28th November, 2022) The European Union's top diplomat, Josep Borrell, said in an interview with the Politico news outlet that NATO had quite enough threats and challenges to focus on without China.

According to the new NATO Strategic Concept, adopted in June, China poses a threat to the interests and values of the alliance. The previous concept, published in 2010, did not mention China.

"Certainly one can consider other threats and challenges. But (for) the time being, don't you think that we have enough threats and challenges on the traditional scenario of NATO?" the diplomat said, as quoted by the news outlet on Monday, adding that "NATO was not conceived for operations in the Pacific Ocean."

According to the online newspaper, foreign ministers of member states will discuss NATO's China policy at its next summit in Bucharest in the coming days.

A senior diplomat from the EU told the news outlet in confidence that the United Kingdom was actively trying to get the alliance to focus on China simply because London was "in need of some multilateral framework after Brexit."

Borrell added that "an unspoken truth is that, to reinforce Taiwan", Washington will not be able "to reinforce permanently in Europe," warning that Europeans "have to face the music and do more."

The NATO Strategic Concept 2022 was adopted at the Madrid Summit. The concept is the organization's key document, which confirms the alliance's values and goals, and presents the collective estimate of the security situation. The concept underlines that China's "stated ambitions and coercive policies challenge" NATO's "interests, security and values."