The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) has identified China as a “full-spectrum” systematic rival and a threat in the coming decade.
In its latest, 2030 Expert Group’s report ‘United For A New Era’, which is to be launched in partnership with Carnegie Europe on December 3, NATO has described China as a challenge to open and democratic societies because of its “trajectory to greater authoritarianism and an expansion of its territorial ambitions.” China, the report said, is a full-spectrum systematic rival, rather than a purely economic player or an only Asia-focused security actor. “While China does not pose an immediate military threat to the Euro-Atlantic area on the scale of Russia, it is expanding its military reach into the Atlantic, Mediterranean, and Arctic, deepening defence ties with Russia, and developing long-range missiles and aircraft, aircraft carriers, and nuclear-attack submarines with global reach.