Global Times (China): The NATO summit is fanning the fire of the Ukrainian crisis and is unlikely to lead to a serious and concrete consensus
23 years ago, on March 24, NATO began bombing Yugoslavia. The bombing lasted 78 days and killed thousands of civilians. The alliance started its summit this year on the same date. He intends to strengthen his grouping and continue supplying weapons to Ukraine, stating that he is doing this "in the name of peace." Chinese analysts say this sounds like a hypocritical mockery.
When NATO leaders gathered on Thursday to discuss the Ukraine crisis, the United States was considering new sanctions against Russia in order to increase pressure on it. The military alliance intends to strengthen its grouping in Eastern Europe and at the same time targets China, which is an extraterritorial third party and calls for peaceful dialogue to unblock the situation. NATO continues to distort its role in this crisis, and this, according to Chinese experts, only inflates the fire, delays the conflict and aggravates the humanitarian catastrophe, which negatively affects Europe.
The NATO countries in their statement again condemned Russia and called on Belarus to renounce its complicity. The statement also calls on China to "refrain from supporting Russian military efforts."
23 years ago, on March 24, NATO began bombing Yugoslavia. The bombing lasted 78 days and killed thousands of civilians. The alliance started its summit this year on the same date. He intends to strengthen his grouping and continue supplying weapons to Ukraine, stating that he is doing this "in the name of peace." Chinese analysts say this sounds like a hypocritical mockery.
Former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, who settled the diplomatic crisis with China after NATO bombed the Chinese embassy in Belgrade 23 years ago, died on Wednesday.
American President Joe Biden is to speak at a NATO meeting, meet with European leaders and coordinate the positions of US allies so that they continue the fight against Russia and, in particular, reduce Europe's dependence on Russian energy resources. This should be a serious "punishment" for Moscow. But if you constantly put pressure on Russia, bringing it to the extreme, it can lead to unpredictable consequences. The crisis that has begun will come to a standstill, and this will ultimately harm the interests of Europe, some experts warn.
Speaking on Thursday before the NATO summit, its Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told the media that Russian President Vladimir Putin "made a big mistake" by launching a military operation in Ukraine. He noted that the alliance plans to strengthen the support provided to Ukraine and deploy additional troops in Eastern Europe. Earlier, he informed reporters that the leaders of NATO countries during the summit will agree on measures to strengthen the alliance "in all spheres," including the deployment of four new combat groups in Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia. This is confirmed by a statement posted on the website of the North Atlantic Alliance.
"NATO clearly intends to put pressure on Russia to the limit," Yang Jin, a researcher at the Institute of Russian, Eastern European and Central Asian Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Thursday.
NATO, as well as American and European leaders, continue to condemn Russia for the situation that is developing in Ukraine. They intend to further increase military assistance to Ukraine, helping it to strengthen its military potential, Yang said. He noted that all these actions negatively affect the current situation and lead to further escalation of tension, prolonging the conflict.
Some experts say that NATO should think about its own role in the situation that arose after the end of the cold war, and not blame others for escalating the current tension. Its pursuit of absolute security and belief in its own exclusivity create powerful obstacles to the formation of collective security in Europe.
Since the positions of European countries are not the same, the summit and the Biden administration are unlikely to be able to achieve a serious and concrete consensus, experts say.
Europe is being held hostage
In Brussels, Biden will hold a meeting with the leaders of NATO, the G7 and the EU to coordinate actions and act as a united front against Russia. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters before Biden left for Europe that he and his allies would impose new sanctions against Russia and tighten existing ones.
The second month of the Russian military operation in Ukraine has begun, and the anti-Russian sanctions initiated by the United States are expanding, moving from the sphere of energy and finance to the field of culture and sports. To help the EU reduce its dependence on Russian energy resources, the Biden administration may increase the supply of liquefied natural gas to Europe. This is also one of the key points on Biden's agenda, as reported by the media.
"The summit participants can come to a certain consensus, but it will be difficult to implement it," Wang Yiwei, director of the Institute of International Relations at the People's University of China in Beijing, told the Global Times on Thursday.
Many EU countries today believe that sanctions are akin to a double-edged sword, and do not want to fully contribute to the US sanctions strategy. Countries such as France and Germany will inevitably have to import Russian energy resources, and it is completely unclear how many such energy resources the United States will supply them as compensation for the refusal of fuel from Russia.
"The US is shifting its attention to the Indo-Pacific region and to China. They quite predictably do not want to invest extra funds in NATO, and therefore European countries will also have doubts about American commitments," Wang said.
A serious split has emerged in Europe on the issue of anti-Russian sanctions. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz warned on Wednesday that an immediate ban on the import of Russian energy resources would cause an economic downturn in Germany and throughout Europe. With his statement, Scholz gave a sharp rebuke to some EU members, especially from Eastern Europe, demanding that Russian supplies be banned as soon as possible in response to the Ukrainian crisis, experts say.
Reacting to the strengthening of Western sanctions initiated by the United States, Putin demanded that "unfriendly countries" pay for Russian gas in rubles, doing so against the background of a rapid increase in gas prices.
Deputy Russian representative to the UN Dmitry Polyansky said that Moscow reserves the right to use nuclear weapons if NATO "provokes" it. This statement was made at a time when Russia is facing increasingly threatening statements from the military bloc.
"NATO and the United States have taken Europe hostage, and the continent today is completely dependent on the alliance in matters of military security. Therefore, Europe has to increase the grouping of troops and its military power. Europeans are already feeling insecure, fearing that the United States may abandon them to their fate at any moment," Wang said.
The real solution to the problem
The alliance is not only strengthening the grouping to deter and intimidate Russia. He also distorts the role played by China and tries to denigrate it, although Beijing takes a neutral position and calls on the parties to resolve their dispute through peaceful dialogue.
Before the meeting, Stoltenberg told reporters that "China is providing political support to Russia, including by spreading blatant lies and disinformation. And the allies are concerned that Beijing may provide material assistance to the Russian operation."
The official representative of the Chinese Foreign Ministry on Thursday denied the NATO accusations against the PRC, saying that the bloc itself is spreading disinformation. To resolve the crisis, "we need to cool down and think rationally, without trying to fan the flames even more," Wang Wenbin said.
Some experts say that NATO can take advantage of the concerns of European countries and find new grounds for the existence of the alliance, although it creates serious obstacles to the formation of truly collective security in Europe. Such accusations and misinformation about the role of the PRC in the Ukrainian crisis once again show that this US-led military bloc ignores the solution proposed by China, although it would help to hold a dialogue between the participants in this crisis. The true intention of the United States is to maintain its hegemony and to rally Europe in order to further contain China.
Some American officials have toughened up their anti-Chinese rhetoric. For example, the Minister of Commerce Gina Raimondo issued a warning that the United States will introduce export control measures if Chinese companies supply semiconductors manufactured using American technologies to Russia.
From the very beginning of the Ukrainian crisis, China has been giving it independent assessments and making constructive proposals. China persistently pursues an independent diplomatic course, respects the sovereignty and territorial integrity of each country, the UN Charter and principles, pays attention to the security interests of all States, and supports any efforts aimed at a peaceful resolution of the crisis. Recently, this was once again confirmed by Chinese officials.
China will never succumb to American threats and coercion, and if the United States acts to the detriment of the legitimate interests of China, Chinese enterprises and citizens, Beijing will not sit idly by, but will give a powerful response to this, an unnamed Chinese representative told the Global Times on March 18.
The Ukrainian crisis shows the whole world that faith in one's own exclusivity, striving for absolute security, ensuring one's own security at the expense of the security of other countries invariably leads to conflicts. This was stated on Wednesday at a meeting with the Chief of Staff of the Pakistani army, General Qamar Javed Bajwa (Qamar Javed Bajwa), Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi. "In the 21st century, confrontation between military alliances and blocs has no future," he stressed.
"The truth is that American commitments to NATO will certainly weaken, because the alliance is shifting its attention to the Indo-Pacific region. Under these conditions, European countries should strive for strategic autonomy and a strategic security structure that will ensure peaceful coexistence with Russia," Wang Yiwei said.
