NATO foreign ministers on Wednesday discussed ways to confront what they call the “challenge” posed by China as Secretary of State Antony Blinken is trying to convince alliance members to take a more hawkish stance toward Beijing.
“What we talked about today is . . . working to adapt in concrete ways to meet the challenge,” Blinken said after the meeting. He said ways that European countries could take action against China is to use “export controls” to protect sensitive technology.
The North Atlantic military alliance officially declared in a strategy document back in June that China poses “systemic challenges.” Blinken said that he now sees a “growing convergence” on how NATO and the EU view China, although some European countries are reluctant to go along with the policies the US is pursuing.
According to Financial Times, two people present at Wednesday’s meeting said that Hungary voiced resistance to some of the measures Blinken was proposing and that Germany is less hawkish toward China than the US.
But the alliance is still dedicated to focusing on China. The Financial Times also reported that NATO held its first dedicated debate on Taiwan back in September. The report said that the alliance discussed the threat to the island and how a Chinese attack would impact NATO members.
They also discussed how NATO should make Beijing aware of the consequences it would face if it launched military action against Taiwan. President Biden has said the US would intervene militarily if China makes a move on the island, breaking from the decades-old policy of strategic ambiguity on the issue.
China has made clear from its recent actions and rhetoric that more US and Western support for Taiwan will make a conflict more likely, but Washington continues to think of ways to deepen ties with the island. Congress wants to provide unprecedented military aid for Taipei, which could be included in the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act.
An Empire needs an external enemy. Anyone who knows the slightest bit of history knows this and also knows it doesn’t end well. Oh, I guess that excludes all those in our US government? And, hey, aren’t we supposed to be a Republic, not an Empire?
The US is largest among the totalitarian capitalist nations using various forms of representative democracy to manage homeland populations.
Convergence is a concept that can be observed in automobile designs. The reason modern cars all look the same is design patterns to fit humans in a vehicle stamped from standard rolls of steel that passes through air friction converge on the same solution.
Military empires run by human Juntas converge toward similar management solutions and thus end up being cookie cutter totalitarian.
Well said, very well said Garrett….
Touche’!
Boy that is far far away from the north atlantic.
It’s amazing how close you get when it becomes a conflict….
The US will lose any conflict with China , China has the man power , and the missiles to take out US carrier fleets . not to mention subs , however the US would more than likely just sit back and let the Tiawan people do the fighting like in Ukraine and PROFIT from it .
China would viciously stop sending their products to the US.
They have done a lot more work in decoupling the US and Chinese economies than we have. A US war with China would finish up the job of turning China – Russia – India into a set of allies that trade heavily amongst themselves using only their own currencies, financial products, transportation, and goods to be traded.
Their economies would do ok. Ours would take a sizable hit, and would take 5-10 years to stabilize and recover.
I’m sorry but “systemic challenges” and “export controls” just isn’t getting it. We need world wide communist conspiracies and Chinese marching six abreast, hiding under the bed, fluoridating the water, etc. The latest crop of hate mongering trash is just lame.
“Blinken said that he now sees a “growing convergence” on how NATO and the EU view China”
Threats and bribes will do that.
Yep, convergence of group think by beoco. creeps multiplying themselves having never bern called to account before, convincing others that they are political safe bet over decades, And if course. others can easily joun for appropriate financial incentive, political goodies or threats of lawsuits, personal extortions, or just silenced.
That is what happens when same people are hanging arounc government, power brokers and peddlers of interests behind tge scene.
During the Vietnam era, we were constantly told that the fall of Vietnam would lead to the communist takeover of all nations in Southeast Asia. Now, we’re being told that the fall of Ukraine will lead to the Russian conquest of all of Europe and that China’s relationship with Taiwan will have drastic consequences for the rest of the world.
I thought the “domino” theory to be far fetched during the Vietnam era. But that was because I didn’t understand how invested the “good guys” were in knocking over a few dominoes of their own.
The fact that neither Ukraine nor Taiwan were in the crisis we have today before Biden/Blinken came into power seems to have been entirely forgotten.
While they may have been sold on the notion that Russia will eventually collapse, European nations, led by France and Germany, have only recently come to the realization that they are 𝐚𝐥𝐬𝐨 on the list of nations that must be subjugated to make way for US domination. Indeed, as the US profits from Europe’s self-imposed energy crisis, I think it likely that Germany’s economy will be dismantled 𝒃𝒆𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆 Russia’s economy is dismantled. I consider it reasonable to believe that the demolition of the Nord Stream pipelines took place primarily to prevent Germany from reconsidering its relationship with Russia.
Sheep following the Empire…WW1 all over again.
“NATO Members Discuss Ways to Confront China at Bucharest Summit”
Perhaps NATO should change it’s name to the Neocon Aggression Tyrannical Organization.
You condemn the devil in front the cameras, then behind the scenes you buy his goods and get rich. Am i missing anything?
Simplicity at its best….
Instead of “confronting” China, why not have a sit down and discuss these issues and present possible compromises and solutions. Dangle a damn carrot instead of threats, put the D back in diplomacy. There must be something that China needs or could benefit from, other than invading Taiwan…?…. There must be some clever people left in Washington?…………………………….
Good idea , however you have to have Diplomats and the West dosen`t have any .
Oh sh-t, I forgot… Back to the drawing board…
When the TSMC factory in Phoenix, Arizona starts producing 3 nanometer chips, Biden will have what he wants most, and I suspect that the people of Taiwan will recognize that China is far more important to them than the US.
The well tuned US regime change machine that targeted Yugoslavia, Georgia, Ukraine, and other former Soviet nations is unlikely to work in Taiwan because the culture of China, which includes Taiwan, is much older and much stronger than that of the US.
I agree. It’s a “challenge” to convince Europe to “take a more hawkish stance toward China.” That’s especially true because China was never a threat to them, it actually gave them a better quality of life by providing cheaper products. Perhaps he should sing “what the world needs now is war more war…” It’s a good song to rally the stubborn nations. Otherwise, how are the Taiwanese gonna get slaughtered? They’re not gonna slaughter themselves people. …Wait. Did I remember the words to the song correctly?
🙂 🙂 🙂
“Love sweet love”?….
These peolle are not tired of listening to themselves? What hapened to free trade, free movement of people, goods, capital? And if they want to change rules , sure why not -/ but do not be whining, pushy, sleezy blamers, victims of bad authoritarians who woukd have never been able to innovate anything without our genius.
Not just dangerous, but disguistingky lame.