MOSCOW, May 13 — RIA Novosti, Andrey Kotz.Finland's accession to NATO poses a direct threat to St. Petersburg and puts an end to the nuclear-free status of the Baltic. The former head of the Center for International Cooperation on Security Issues of the Ministry of Defense of the People's Republic of China, Senior Colonel Zhou Bo, came to this conclusion in an article in the Economist magazine. China has repeatedly warned the world community against further expansion of NATO. About why Beijing is concerned about this, — in the RIA Novosti article.
Less security
On Thursday, Finnish President Sauli Niinisto and Prime Minister Sanna Marin announced that an application for NATO membership should be submitted immediately. In their opinion, joining the alliance will strengthen the security of the state. The Swedish government will approve a similar decision at a meeting on May 16. Thus, Russia's Scandinavian neighbors refuse to be neutral. This worries not only Moscow, but also Beijing.
"The alliance troops will be at arm's length from St. Petersburg," Zhou Bo writes. — But the more popular NATO is, the less security there is in Europe. If the main fear is Russian nuclear weapons, why constantly tease Vladimir Putin? Security, which is now in the past, is possible only in cooperation with Russia."
At the same time, Zhou Bo stressed that the armed conflict in Ukraine has opened a second wind for NATO. So, in February, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz created a special defense fund of 100 billion euros and announced that Berlin would spend two percent of GDP per year on defense — in accordance with the demand of Brussels.
American servicemen during joint exercises of NATO troops in Poland
Image Source: © Photo : U.S. Army / Sgt. Andrew Greenwood
Other members of the alliance have also promised to increase military spending. According to the Chinese expert, this will have a detrimental effect not only on European, but also on world security.
Military and economic threat
China seems to be far away, there are no special disputes with NATO countries, economic ties with the West are very close. Why is Beijing so opposed to the expansion of the North Atlantic bloc?
American servicemen during joint exercises of NATO troops in Poland
Image Source: © Photo : U.S. Army / Staff Sgt. Thomas Mort
"The fact is that the expansion at the expense of Finland and Sweden is not a consequence of Russia's special military operation in Ukraine," military expert Alexei Leonkov believes. — They have been drawn into the alliance since the 1990s, when the Partnership for Peace program was launched. Since then, the entire political and military elite of these countries has completely changed to pro-Western and pro-American. Let me remind you that in 2020, Jens Stoltenberg, talking about the new NATO strategy until 2030, stressed that this is not only the European military alliance. It is no coincidence that representatives of Taiwan, South Korea, Japan and Australia regularly travel to Brussels for summits. They don't even think to hide that they want to expand their sphere of influence to all continents. Naturally, this worries Beijing."
Leonkov added that China views the expansion of NATO as an economic threat. Beijing is closely watching how the United States, under the pretext of military assistance to Ukraine, is forcing European allies to abandon Soviet weapons, promising to send American ones in return.
The Pentagon plans to "plant" Finland and Sweden on their own weapons. Washington is pumping up its own military-industrial complex with additional orders, strengthening its economic power and increasing its competitive advantages over Beijing in the international arena. Of course, the rapidly developing China does not like this.
A likely opponent
The expert recalled that Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping in Beijing on February 4 confirmed the strategic partnership of the two superpowers, coordination of efforts in the international arena, and called the United States a hegemon and a world minority.
China and Russia are ready to stand together "against the actions of external forces to undermine security and stability in common neighboring regions." In fact, Beijing has directly told the West that it will not tolerate military bases near its borders and is in full solidarity with Moscow in this.
NATO sees China as a potential adversary. Two years ago, Alliance Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg pointed out that close cooperation between Moscow and Beijing is a serious threat to Brussels.
A USAF B52 bomber at the Royal Air Force Military Airbase in Fairford. March 29, 1999
Image Source: © AP Photo / Alastair Grant
At the same time, NATO does not like that China will soon "become the largest economy in the world," as well as the fact that China has "the second largest defense budget," "significant investments in modern military potential." In particular, in missiles that "can reach all member countries of the alliance."
Stoltenberg noted that China is active in cyberspace, is expanding its presence in the Arctic and Africa, and is also ahead of the West in creating the infrastructure of 5G information networks. And it is increasingly cooperating with Russia, which is "rapidly increasing its military power." This is a direct threat, so the alliance must respond to the strengthening of China's influence and Beijing's friendship with Moscow.
