The Debate within NATO and the 'China Card'

Abstract

In recent years the 'traditional' alliance system of the post World War II period has undergone rapid change. Both superpowers, the U.S. and the Soviet Union, which have dominated the East-West conflict, and similarly the organization of intra-alliance relationships in the Eastern and Western bloc, are today confronted with relatively strong 'second' powers. The superpower conflict U.S.-USSR is complemented by ascending hegemonic conflicts U.S.-Western Europe and USSR-China. The Soviet-Chinese schism started already in the late 1950's. In the early eighties the Western Alliance is strained by severe con flicts, perhaps demonstrating a political process which started much earlier in the Eastern bloc. There are not only different perceptions of the Soviet threat but also different approaches to security policy between Western Europeans and Americans. The 'diversion of power' within the Western and Eastern bloc has initiated a political process in which the 'second' powers like Western Europe or China are trying to define their own security interests. The article tries to examine the current political situation in NATO and possible forms of cooperation between Western Europe and China.