Seven countries including Romania join NATO

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, March 30, 2004

Seven countries including Romania join NATO

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Seven countries including Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia formally joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) on Monday, bringing the number of the treaty organization's members from 19 to 26. Following is a brief introduction to NATO.

The Brussels-based NATO, or the Atlantic Alliance, was established on the basis of the 1949 North Atlantic Treaty as a defensive political and military alliance of a group of European states (then numbering 10) and the USA and Canada.

The Alliance aims to provide common security for its members through cooperation and consultation in political, military and economic fields, as well as scientific, environmental, and other non-military aspects.

Following the collapse of the pro-Soviet Union governments in central and eastern Europe, from 1989 onwards, and the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact (which had hitherto been regarded as the Alliance's principal adversary) in 1991, NATO has undertaken a fundamental transformation of its structures and policies to meet the new security challenges in Europe.

Before Monday's expansion, the largest one in NATO's history, the bloc groups 19 members which are Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

The enlargement of NATO, through the admission of new members from the eastern and central European countries, was considered tobe a means of enhancing stability and security of the Euro-Atlantic area.

Main sub-organizations of NATO include the North Atlantic Council, the Defense Planning Committee, the Planning and Analysis Committee, the Council of Permanent Representatives, the International Secretariat and the Military Committee.

The North Atlantic Council, the highest authority of the Alliance, is composed of representatives of all member states. It meets at the level of Permanent Representatives, ministers of foreign affairs, or heads of state and government, and at all levels, has effective political and decision-making authority. Ministerial meetings are held at least twice a year.

Decisions are made by common consent and not by majority vote. The Council is a forum for wide consultation between member governments on major issues, including political, military, economic and other subjects, and is supported by the Senior or regular Political Committee, the Military Committee and other subordinate bodies.

Composed of the allied Chiefs-of-Staff, or their representatives, of all member countries, the Military Committee is the highest military body in NATO under the authority of the Council.

The common security policy of the members of the North Atlantic Alliance is to safeguard peace through the maintenance of political solidarity and adequate defense at the lowest level of military forces needed to deter all possible forms of aggression.

Since the 1980s, the Alliance has been actively involved in coordinating policies with regard to arms control and disarmament issues designed to bring about negotiated reductions in conventional forces, intermediate and short-range nuclear forces and strategic nuclear forces.

During the 1990s, NATO increasingly developed its role as a mechanism for peace-keeping and crisis management.

As NATO is an international, not a supra-national, organization,its member countries themselves decide the amount to be devoted totheir defense effort and the form which the latter will assume. Thus, the aim of NATO's defense planning is to develop realistic military plans for the defense of the alliance at reasonable cost.

Source: Xinhua

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