{"id":61875,"date":"2020-06-08T17:40:31","date_gmt":"2020-06-08T17:40:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2020\/06\/08\/nato-chief-seeks-to-forge-deeper-ties-in-chinas-neighborhood\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T00:35:58","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T00:35:58","slug":"nato-chief-seeks-to-forge-deeper-ties-in-chinas-neighborhood","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/global\/europe\/2020\/06\/08\/nato-chief-seeks-to-forge-deeper-ties-in-chinas-neighborhood\/","title":{"rendered":"NATO chief seeks to forge deeper ties in China\u2019s neighborhood"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

COLOGNE, Germany \u2014 NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg wants the alliance to take on a greater political role in world affairs and help nations in the Asia-Pacific region contend with China\u2019s rise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMilitary strength is only part of the answer,\u201d Stoltenberg said Monday in a speech during an online event organized by the Atlantic Council and the German Marshall Fund of the United States. \u201cWe also need to use NATO more politically.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said alliance member should adopt a more global approach to security issues, unlike the Europe- and North America-centric tack that has often shaped the alliance’s agenda. \u201cThis is not about a global presence, but a global approach,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs we look to 2030, we need to work even more closely with like-minded countries, like Australia, Japan, New Zealand and [South] Korea, to defend the global rules and institutions that have kept us safe for decades, to set norms and standards in space and cyberspace, on new technologies and global arms control, and ultimately to stand up for a world built on freedom and democracy, not on bullying and coercion.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those words are a veiled description of what Western analysts believe is a policy of China blackmailing weaker nations in its orbit through economic and diplomatic pressure. As Stoltenberg put it, Beijing becoming militarily and economically stronger represents a \u201cfundamental shifting” in the global balance of power in which the Western alliance should not be caught flat-footed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stoltenberg repeatedly invoked NATO cohesion as an organizing principle for the alliance, imploring members to “resist the temptation of national solutions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\t