RELEVANCE: GS 2 || INTERNATIONAL RELATION || INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION || MISCELLANEOUS

Why in news?

NATO in 70 year of its existence has been targeted, NATO accused China of being a threat.

What is NATO?

NATO stands for The North Atlantic Treaty Organization

NATO formation took place on April 4 th 1949

1949 There are 29 North American and European countries, none of the Asian countries are members of NATO.

Members of NATO:

Albania, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Albania, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Montenegro, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States. For e.g. If Russia declares war on Poland all the members’ countries will declare war on Russia.

Use of Article 5:

Article 5 of the North Atlantic treaty, requiring member states to come to the aid of any member state subject to an armed attack, was invoked for the first and only time after the September 11 attacks, after which troops were deployed to Afghanistan under the NATO-led ISAF.

What if NATO countries attack each other?

Treaty has article 8 which says: No NATO countries will attack each other, if member countries attacks each other in such case, the aggressor (attacker) country will no more be the member of NATO

Article 8- Each Party declares that none of the international engagements now in force between it and any other of the Parties or any third State is in conflict with the provisions of this Treaty, and undertakes not to enter into any international engagement in conflict with this Treaty.

These are the basic mechanism of treaty.

NATO- motive and focus:

From the very formation of NATO the focus of NATO countries are on USSR, to counter the war shop act of USSR

NATO focus is now shifted from USSR

NATO SUMMIT: The 2019 London Summit of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was the 30th formal meeting of the heads of state and heads of government of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It was held in The Grove, Watford, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom, on 3 and 4 December 2019.

Present scenario:

NATO allies single out China and its policies as a strategic ‘challenge’

allies single out China and its policies as a strategic ‘challenge’ “Jens Stoltenberg Secretary General of North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) “We see them in the Arctic, we see them (China) in Africa, we see we see them investing heavily in European infrastructure and of course investing in cyberspace,”

Due to all these actions of China, active in the South China Sea, NATO sees China as a challenge.

NATO together as a unit will focus on China.

China, Macron said, should not “be the object of our collective defence … in strictly military terms” for NATO. Other European countries like Italy, Greece and Hungary were also against targeting China as a military threat.

How NATO will view China:

NATO’s statements will add additional pressure on Europe to stay away from Chinese companies when it comes with 5 G technology.

It will make investment projects in Greece, Hungary a bit more difficult as they will be now accountable to NATO when they lease a part of their country to China.

Additional info:

France withdrew from the integrated military command of NATO in 1966 but remained a member of the organization. However, it resumed its position in NATO’s military command in 2009.

The Headquarters of NATO is in Brussels, Belgium.

Mains oriented question:

China’s growing presence in NATO countries and heavily investing in European infrastructure and investing in cyberspace is a concern for NATO countries. Discuss the implication and step taken by NATO in this regard. (150 words)