A Swedish NATO membership is something China views negatively – and they are generally very critical of the alliance being expanded.
That’s what Lisa Zhang, an analyst at the National Knowledge Center on China, says.
– They see NATO as synonymous with the United States and argue that the purpose of NATO is for the United States to expand its sphere of influence, she says.
Sweden’s NATO process is taking steps forward, something that not only angers Russia. During the NATO summit in Vilnius, China’s role and the country’s not entirely positive view of expanding the alliance were also discussed.
Lisa Zhang is an analyst at the National Knowledge Center on China. She says that China is generally very critical of expanding the defense alliance, but mostly when it comes to the eastern expansion.
– It is obviously negative that Sweden will probably join NATO. But I think that China knows that Sweden is not joining NATO because of China, but more because of Russia. So it’s not targeted at China and that’s why it hasn’t been reported that much, says Lisa Zhang.
NATO synonymous with the United States
NATO has called China a systematic challenge to the rules-based world order. That NATO is critical of the country is one of the reasons why they are critical of the alliance, says Lisa Zhang. She also says that they see NATO as synonymous with the United States.
– You don’t want what you call American hegemony to take over the world more than it already has. NATO is seen as some kind of remnant of the Cold War. China has always been against military alliances and after the end of the Cold War it is said that NATO has no purpose anymore. And then it is argued that the purpose of NATO is for the US to expand its sphere of influence.
“Very serious consequences”
The most likely thing is that Sweden will join NATO. Lisa Zhang does not believe that China will react strongly or that there will be concrete measures on a bilateral level.
For China, the Indo-Pacific region is the most important and what they are worried about is whether NATO will establish stronger ties with countries in that area, she says. China would react strongly to that.
– If NATO countries were to get more involved in the Indo-Pacific region after discussing this in NATO, even if it is not under the NATO umbrella, I think there could be very serious consequences, says Lisa Zhang.