At the center of the discussions of the vertex Nato held to Vilnius there were not only the hot issues related to themembership Of Ukraine e Sweden in the Alliance, but it was there Chinese, and its increasingly important role, to occupy a large part of the debate held in the two days of meetings between the leaders. Witness the participation in the summit, at the invitation of the Alliance itself, for the second consecutive time after Madrid 2022of the four states that make up the so-called AP4: Japan, South Korea, Australia e New Zeland. A group of countries which boasts an integrated and strategic link with the Atlantic Pact and which are the main rivals in the area of People’s Republic of China.
the general secretary, Jens Stoltenbergopened the summit by sending a clear message to the allies: “Security is not regional, but global and we must be together”. A warning about the risk of short-sightedness only on the front pertaining to the Alliance, as well as the North Atlantic region. Stoltenberg then recalled that in 2025 China will have 1,500 nuclear warheads mounted on missiles capable of reaching the United States e in Europa and that “what happens in the Indo Pacific has consequences for North America and Europe.” Precisely because of the need for a “coordination even closer with our partners in the Indo Pacific”, important agreements were concluded here with Japan and South Korea on maritime cooperationexchange of military information, cyber defensecontrol of armaments and new military technologiesgoing to cover one of the fundamental points of the NATO Alliance, namely the theme ofinteroperability military.
To this scenario it is necessary to add the fact that more and more countries of the Alliance are redefining theirs relationship political and economic with the Chineseidentified by most as a fundamental “partner”, but at the same time “systemic rival”. This distancing translates, from an economic point of view, into the search for a greater independence from Chinese supply chains. Emblematic in this sense is the case of Germaniamain European partner of Beijing which, as already announced in the new national security strategy presented last month, criticized in Vilnius, through its own chancellor Scholzthe ever-increasing Chinese “aggression” by mentioning a “new orientation strategic German” which will lead in the future to the “reduction from the addictions criticisms” with Beijing.
During the Lithuanian summit, the possibility also emerged of the opening of a office of connection of NATO a Tokyo, a somewhat singular hypothesis, emphasized by many and anticipated before the summit. A move that would fit inside the strategy cara a Washingtonwhich aims to increase the commitment and influence of NATO countries in the Pacific in an anti-Chinese function, exploiting Japanese fears relating to a possible future military clash with Dragon. A fear that recently led Tokyo to decide to strengthen its army offensively. According to the newspaper Nikkei Asiathe eventuality of this opening, supported with great conviction by the general secretary, was for the moment suspended but not archived at all and the reasons can be found mainly in one dura opposition French gained in the past few weeks. It was in fact the president himself Emmanuel Macron to put, from Vilnius, a temporary point on the discussion, hoping that Nato do not enlarge its own horizon of action and declaring that “NATO is the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and here geography says it all: the Indo-Pacific is not the North Atlantic. Then it’s fine to have a strategic intimacy but we must not give the idea of someone who wants to enter the field of struggle. It’s not the right time“. It is not the first time that Macron has departed from Washington’s positions, insisting on the hope of a greater one European strategic autonomy. As in the case ofApril last year, when in the context of a trip to China he declared that “European states must not be involved in crises that are outside their interests”, as in the case of Taiwan.