Difficult for NATO to reach consensus

The spat between US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu during a video conference of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization on Tuesday has exposed the rift in the Cold War bloc, offering some food for thought.

The Eastern Mediterranean has rich oil and natural gas reserves, and has become a focus of the struggle between Turkey and at least seven other countries backed by the United States.

As the tensions escalate in the waters, that sea area could become a blasting fuse for the internal strife in NATO.

The spat also shows that with the incumbent US administration counting down the days till it leaves office, its influence within NATO is undoubtedly declining rapidly.

As the European countries are seeking more independence in diplomacy and security issues, the US' leadership in the organization and its ability to balance the interests of relevant parties in it is weakening. No wonder French President Emmanuel Macron once said that NATO is "brain-dead".

Originally, the subject of this video conference was neither the Eastern Mediterranean nor the relationship between Turkey and the United States.

According to the original agenda, the theme of the meeting was the "NATO 2030" reform proposals.

The foreign ministers of the NATO member states discussed 138 reform recommendations during the meeting, which will be submitted for discussion and approval of the state heads, including the determination that Russia will remain NATO's biggest opponent over the next 10 years; that China is not an opponent of NATO and NATO needs to engage with China on issues such as arms control and climate change.

Although the organization vows to make its decision-making more democratic and make itself not only a military alliance but also a political union by 2030 through carrying out the reform, the open wrangling between Turkey and the US indicates no reform will be easy, and it has a long way to go before realizing that vision.

- Beijing News