Asia-Pacific should keep NATO away: China Daily editorial

Described as being "brain dead" during the tenure of the previous US administration, the "value diplomacy" of the Joe Biden administration has breathed life into the previously ailing North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

The so-called values the Biden administration has been touting characterize the latest Strategic Concept document that is due to be adopted by the transatlantic alliance members at the conclusion of their three-day summit in Madrid on Thursday.

Since those values are a framework in which to constrain China as a "rival" and a "threat", it can be expected that NATO is now in the pay of Washington's "Indo-Pacific strategy".

The Ukraine conflict serves to show what that entails.

In seeking the shelter of the collective security umbrella held by the US, the members of the bloc have become puppets of Washington, no matter how much they protest that isn't so.

A puppet can never control its puppeteer, so with Washington pulling the strings NATO is increasingly acting as a collective of coercion.

By collectively targeting China in the name of defending their own security, they are amplifying the hollow ring of their claims to be upholders of rules and peace.

Since the end of the Cold War, lacking any reason for still being in existence, NATO has shone a deceptive light on the path it pursues. It has depicted that as a noble crusade despite the disastrous consequences for those countries in which its forces have stepped foot, such as those on the Balkan Peninsula, Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya or on whose doorstep they stand, such as Ukraine.

It is by no means coincidental that NATO has become increasingly assertive about expanding and maximizing its sphere of influence at a time when the US' anxiety has become acute. The organization has let itself be gamed into becoming a tool of the US to defend its hegemony under the name of collective security and defending a "rules-based" international order.

It is no surprise therefore that the leaders of Japan, the Republic of Korea, Australia and New Zealand are also attending the Madrid summit as the US wants to enlarge its membership and scope to encompass the Asia-Pacific, so as to broaden the sweep of what has become its own comfort blanket.

As such, NATO's insidious creep into the Asia-Pacific on the bases of AUKUS, the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue and various security treaties between the US and its allies will gather pace.

All countries in the region should be wary of that. There does not exist any space for speculation on what that will ultimately entail once it gains a foothold.