NATO's New Role: Commentary

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, November 29, 2002

NATO's New Role: Commentary

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The Prague Summit Meeting of NATO decided to invite Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and four other E. European nations to join the alliance, in order to greatly expand NATO's strategic space and press up to Russia. However, Russia reacted calmly, no long feeling angry. This phenomenon clearly indicates that profound changes have taken place in the security pattern of NATO itself and Europe.

The NATO Summit, called a "historic turn", had its theme summed up as "three news" i.e., "new member, new ability and new partnership". Its prerequisite is another "new", i.e., "new threat", it is precisely against this background that NATO has found a reason for its subsistence.

The break-up of the Soviet Union had for a while deprived NATO of the reason and prerequisite for its existence. But NATO did not resigned itself to heading toward extinction, there are two reasons for this: First, the changing Russia still cannot set the mind of the West at rest, although Russia bears patiently due to the decline of national strength, it still does not lose its great ambitions, and there is invariably a day for it to stage a comeback, so NATO has to "keep its vigilance". But on public occasion, NATO emphasizes the second reason, i.e., the attribute of its collective defense and common security, and to expand its political influence through pushing forward eastward expansion and "its plan for peaceful partnership". While the East European countries and some republics of the former Soviet Union still have apprehensions of their formidable eastern neighbor, so they see NATO as a haven of security and vie with one another to swim into it, in order to seek psychological tranquillity. In addition, NATO also tries, through eastward expansion, to consolidate its strategic space won in Eastern Europe after Cold War. Although Russia is unwilling to see NATO's eastward expansion, it is, however, in a helpless state, so it hopes to push the change of NATO from a pure military group into a political-military group through NATO-Russian council.

Another reason for NATO's existence and expansion is the emergence of new threat-terrorism in the world, and terrorism has spread to become a global problem. The NATO Summit decided to establish a 21,000-trong quick reaction force which can go to war at any part of the world within 7-30 days, at the same time NATO will also enhance its military capability in eight fields, such as defending against biological and chemical war, radiation and nuclear defense, accurate guidance, naval-air transport and air refueling. Establishing a quick reaction force is the proposal put forward by US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. According to Japanese media analysis, the US move is designed to impact EU's decision on establishing a 60,000-strong quick reaction force, to prevent Europe from advancing to complete defense independence. Various European countries, while expressing their consent, are keeping their vigilance against it. French President Chirac indicated that France was ready to participate in the NATO quick reaction force on conditions that this force should not weaken Europe's ability to establish its own defense system.

Historically, the United States regarded NATO as a military-political organization directed against the Soviet Union, today, the United States still tries its utmost to make NATO serve politically as a link between the United States and Europe, and militarily remain an important helper of the United States. To a great extent, it seems that this function of NATO will continue on.

In recent years, however, there has all along been another loud voice concerning NATO's future and mission in Europe, advocating that NATO should more largely develop in the direction toward a political-military organization, coordinate with Russia, fulfill its function of guaranteeing regional security and carry on its global peace-keeping and humanitarian mission, rather than developing in an offensive manner by making global deployment and offensive by following on the heels of the United States. In short, the world is changing, and NATO's role is also experiencing tangible and intangible changes under the drive of various forces.

By People's Daily Online

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