NATO and China: Navigating the Challenges

As NATO frames goals for its eighth decade, China is becoming the main reason to reassess NATO’s purpose, reach, and institutional agility. NATO has cautiously, yet progressively begun framing China to be at the center of long-term global security challenges, and, therefore, a political problem. This chapter argues that China will prove to be a new, substantive challenge for NATO in the coming decade. Therefore, a more ambitious agenda for NATO needs to be set, including issues such as spotlighting China, communicating that China-related con- cerns do not just stem from US-China disputes but are shared across member states, empowering member-states’ best practices, establishing creative and flexible ways to cooperate with countries outside the Al- liance, and ultimately even rethinking some aspects of Alliance-wide decision-making. Without actively threatening NATO, China provides a counterargument to the decade-long calls for the Alliance to retire by equipping it with a purpose for coordination and growth. Importantly, although the need to craft a joint political approach stems from the member states’ increasing perception of China as a non-ally on nation- al levels, NATO should avoid framing it as an adversary.