Divisions come to the fore at NATO summit

VILNIUS, Lithuania — The two-day Vilnius summit of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization concluded on Wednesday amid divisions among members and criticism from the international community.

During the summit, Turkiye greenlighted Sweden's accession to the military bloc, and NATO adopted its "most comprehensive defense plan since the end of the Cold War "while pledging to provide more long-term support to Ukraine. Though a regional alliance between Europe and North America, NATO once again invited some leaders from the Asia-Pacific region to attend the summit.

However, the United States' increasingly evident efforts to tighten its control over Europe through NATO and to pressure Russia have raised concerns. Observers fear NATO's attempt to break through its North Atlantic geographical positioning and interfere in Asia-Pacific security might lead to more international and regional instability.

According to its communique released at the end of the summit, NATO has implemented a new generation of regional defense plans. The objective is to have 300,000 troops fully prepared for action. The communique also welcomed "ongoing efforts by Allies to increase their presence on NATO's eastern flank", and NATO members have committed to investing a minimum of 2 percent of their GDP annually on defense.

Analysts caution that NATO's expansion and its responses to the Russia-Ukraine issue could potentially jeopardize global security by triggering significant socioeconomic and political transformations.

Critics also argue that the existence and influence of NATO may undermine the nonaligned and neutral status of certain countries. They contend that NATO membership restricts the foreign policy options and independence of states that prefer to maintain a neutral position in international conflicts.

Jan Oberg, director of the Transnational Foundation for Peace and Future Research, expressed concerns over Sweden's NATO membership, asserting that Sweden, instead of remaining an important nonaligned buffer zone that has kept it out of the war for 200 years, may become directly involved in conflicts.

Worst case scenario

Oberg warned that if NATO emerges victorious in this scenario after being the principal creator of "the most dangerous and unpredictable security environment since the Cold War", the rest of the world will likely approach an "eschatological moment", which relates to the "end of the world".

In an explicit move to meddle in the regional affairs of the Asia-Pacific, NATO again invited leaders of Australia, Japan, New Zealand and the Republic of Korea, the so-called "partners" in the Asia-Pacific region, to attend its summit for the second time and vowed to "further strengthen dialogue and cooperation to tackle our shared security challenges", according to the communique.

Welcoming the Asian "partners" to the North Atlantic Council meeting on Wednesday, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg stated, "NATO is a regional alliance between Europe and North America, but the challenges we face are global, and our security is interconnected. What happens in the Euro-Atlantic region matters for the 'Indo-Pacific', and what happens in the 'Indo-Pacific' matters to the Euro-Atlantic."

However, NATO leaders sent mixed signals. French President Emmanuel Macron told a news conference at the end of the summit that NATO should keep its focus on the North Atlantic region. "It remains a North Atlantic Treaty Organization and, whatever they say, geography is stubborn: the 'Indo-Pacific' is not the North Atlantic. We do not want it to look like NATO is creating legitimacy to be present geographically in other regions," said Macron.

Spanish expert Pere Ortega commented that as long as NATO exists, attaining peace in Europe will remain elusive due to the alliance's inability to curtail US military intervention.

"The NATO summit, dominated by the United States, will not contribute to a peaceful resolution of the Ukrainian crisis, as evidenced by the US decision to provide cluster bombs to Ukraine," Croatian political analyst Mladen Plese said.

Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden arrived in Helsinki after the summit for a one-day visit. He held talks with Nordic leaders at Finland's presidential palace on Thursday.

Xinhua - Agencies