A Chinese challenge to #NATO2030?

On June 8, 2020, the NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg announced the start of the #NATO2030 initiative, an effort of long-term reflection aimed at re-launching the role of the Atlantic Alliance and at strengthening its activities in a strategic environment in constant and often troublesome evolution. In this framework, #NATO2030 pays special attention to the impact that the rise of China's international role and the consolidation of the country's geopolitical ambitions can have on the Atlantic Alliance. The growing Chinese presence in the Mediterranean, also in the framework of the One Belt One Road project (OBOR), requires NATO to pay greater attention to this region. In parallel, the strengthening its "global partnerships” impose on NATO the need to carefully monitor Beijing’s initiatives in its regional environment, which have already raised concerns in several of NATO’s global partners. However, a greater emphasis on the Mediterranean dimension, and a higher global profile will have consequences. The most important one is the risk of an overstretching of the Alliance in both geographic and functional terms, especially if the estrangement between the US and Europe continues, and the tensions crisscrossing NATO persist.