'Unprecedented summit’ can’t stop NATO from being marginalized

Edited and Translated by People's Daily Online

The NATO Summit will be held in Chicago, and leaders of 60 countries and international organizations attended the NATO Summit in Chicago on May 20 and 21. Although the summit is regarded as the "unprecedented summit" in the history of NATO, it cannot conceal the fact that NATO is being marginalized.

First, the legality crisis of NATO has not been solved. As a military alliance established during the Cold War, NATO did not have to explain the significance of its existence. But after the Cold War came to an end, the legality of NATO collapsed quickly.

Second, NATO is facing an increasing crisis of survival. For European countries, the biggest security threat comes from the debt crisis.

Third, the two sides of the Atlantic have an increasing divergence of views on the orientation of NATO. Since the 21st century, especially since the "9/11 Incident", the United States has been trying to turn NATO into a tool for its global anti-terrorism war and promote the NATO into an "international police" for spreading its Western-style democracy.

It is certain that NATO will not vanish in a short period, because Europeans do not want to get back to the "warring state period" when every European country was busy expanding its armament. In addition, NATO is also a symbol of the strength of the West to certain extent. However, it is quite possible that NATO will continue to be marginalized.

In a globalization era, NATO must change its mentality of being a military alliance of the Cold War period and re-orientate itself but should not maintain its unsustainable life by exaggerating others' military threats, pulling new members into it and establishing expansive missile defense systems.

Read the Chinese version:“空前盛会”难掩北约边缘化（望海楼）