Against an increasingly complex security situation, NATO takes measures to cope with current and future challenges.
Against the backdrop of an increasingly complex security situation, NATO is taking steps to ensure it can cope with current and future challenges. NATO leaders, who met at a summit in Brussels, approved NATO 2023 - the most important package of measures in recent decades by which the structure seeks to adapt itself. This includes, among others, a new policy of cyber defence, a new commitment with respect to resilience, and, as a first, tackling the security consequences of climate change. Europe and North America "must stand strong together in NATO. To defend our values and our interests. Especially at a time when authoritarian regimes like Russia and China challenge the rules-based order", emphasised NATO secretary general Jens Stoltenberg. He said member states are worried about what he called "China's coercive policies" and the challenges these pose to the security of the North Atlantic Alliance. He also mentioned the rapid expansion of China's nuclear arsenal and its joint exercises with Russia in the Euro-Atlantic area, as well as China's use of misinformation.
In an interview to Radio Romania, the head of the Centre for Conflict Prevention and Early Warning Iulian Chifu made an analysis of the document approved by NATO leaders:
"Russia remains the main enemy and the range of threats coming from Russia were clearly articulated, even more so than at the NATO summit in Warsaw, with the entire array of threats posed by Russia being named and exposed. China is mentioned for the first time in this document, as a strategic challenge. We're seeing here rising concerns about China and we're also seeing the migration from let's say Afghanistan and external terrorism to an area where the main concern is cyber-attacks and especially that very topical and very important component of security, namely technological security. Romania managed to achieve its targets, first of all at Allied level and secondly and specifically with respect to the defence and consolidation of the defence and deterrence posture on the eastern flank and the references to the Black Sea and the Allied concerns in the wider Black Sea area and of the Euro-Atlantic centre for resilience established in Bucharest and which is intended as a NATO centre of excellence."
History books tell us that Eurasia never had two hegemons - right now, China and Russia have certain common interests dictated by America's superpower status in the last 30 years, says Romania's former foreign minister, professor Adrian Cioroianu in an analysis of the current geopolitical situation. In his opinion, while the two may forge an alliance in the medium term, in the long term the question naturally arises: what kind of long-term interests do they have in common? Adrian Cioroianu:
"Things may look like the two are heading towards a form of cooperation against the West, but they may equally lead to tensions, because the two are sharing an area of influence, an area of dominance, and from this point of view, I believe Russia may go down on NATO's list of priorities because Russia is a rival over influence in Europe, but not one that is growing as is the case with China."
Adrian Cioroianu explains China's increasingly strong emergence on the NATO agenda through a completely unexpected fact that occurred in the last decade, something not even seen during the Cold War:
"During the Cold War, when the West was in competition with the Soviet Union, the West and in particular the US held the technological supremacy at all times. Regardless of how much the Soviet Union invested in arms or space technology, the Americans were always one or two steps ahead. From this point of view there are fears, especially in recent years, in last five years probably, ever since there is awareness of this fact, that in certain areas of technological research such as artificial intelligence, which is based on the collection of data, China may in some respects be ahead of the West right now. In the global world in which we live, the idea of borders practically does not exist any longer. The NATO secretary general put it very eloquently when he said that when it comes to cyber borders we are all neighbours, hence this idea that China is advancing quickly towards the borders, the digital borders, which may translate as cyberespionage, intellectual theft and the theft of data from large consortiums and big global enterprises."
Such accusations have been made and from this point of view, says professor Cioroianu, ongoing competition is being waged in the realms of top technology and artificial intelligence. (CM)
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