NATO To Affirm China As Global Threat

China's effect on the rules-based international order will be discussed Wednesday by leaders of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

Defense ministers of the 30-member alliance will hold a virtual meeting Wednesday and Thursday to discuss challenges to security - particularly growing threats from China and Russia.

The meeting, which will be the first attended by new U.S. Secretary of State Lloyd Austin, will see NATO receive firsthand information about President Joe Biden's foreign policy agenda and his call to stand "shoulder to shoulder" with NATO and America's closest allies. Biden sees China as America's "most serious competitor."

Defense ministers will discuss NATO secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg's NATO 2030 proposals and continuing operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Stoltenberg said the alliance must address international challenges and develop a broader approach to problems and challenges.

"China and Russia are at the forefront of an authoritarian pushback against the rules-based international order," he said. "So we should enhance our political dialogue and practical cooperation with like-minded partners to promote our values and protect our interests."

He said the NATO summit later this year will be an opportunity to start a new chapter for transatlantic relations against these threats. "When we meet, I want to present leaders an ambitious agenda for transatlantic security and defense."

Stoltenberg's proposals envision where NATO will be a decade and how it will continue to keep its member states safe.

Stoltenberg said staying strong militarily meant continuing to invest in the armed forces of member states and modern military capabilities.

"Strengthening NATO politically means using NATO as the forum to discuss and, where necessary, to act on issues affecting our shared security. Finally, making NATO a more global alliance means working even more closely with like-minded partners to defend our values in a world of increased global competition," he explained.

Stoltenberg wants to see a boost in alliance funding for its deterrence and defense activities.

"This would support allied deployments in our battle groups in the eastern part of our alliance, air policing, maritime deployments and exercises," he said.

Biden has said his policy toward China will be different from his predecessor's in that he would work more closely with allies to push back more forcefully and against China. "We will confront China's economic abuses," said Biden in a speech at the State Department last week.

"But we're also ready to work with Beijing when it's in America's interest to do so. We'll compete from a position of strength by building back better at home and working with our allies and partners."

Biden will also be tougher on Russia. "I made it very clear to President Putin in a manner very different from my predecessor that the days of the U.S. rolling over in the face of Russian aggressive actions, interfering with our elections, cyberattacks, poisoning its citizens, are over," Biden said.