On the evening of 19th January the “NATO’s New Strategy and the Rise of China “ roundtable hosted by the German Marshall Fund entertained a recurring but increasingly timely question; the accommodation of the Eastern challenges into the upcoming European Union and North Atlantic Treaty Organization strategic documents.
Dr. Stefanie Babst, Dr. Aaron Friedberg, and Mr. Robert Dresen dicussed the imminent need to craft an integrated and collective response by the institutions to the growing collective challenge of Russia and China. As the EU is about to finalize its strategic compass and NATO will release its renewed strategic concept at the Madrid summit later this year, cooperation between organizations should go beyond their soon-to-be announced leaders’ joint statement and incorporate the full ray of domains into their policies.
Moreover, the experts highlighted that while a NATO-China Council would be premature yet, the transatlantic Alliance should start talking to China rather than merely taking about it. In addition to the Indo-Pacific grey rhino – a growing and certain threat to our security – the other inescapable threat, the Russian aggression also needs to be addressed.
