Renewed military support for Ukraine will top the agenda as NATO prepares for its annual two-day summit July 11 and 12 in Vilnius, Lithuania. Kyiv is urging the alliance to fast-track its membership application at the meeting.
NATO’s Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg confirmed Tuesday that he would extend his term for another year, as the West seeks to maintain unity amid Russia’s aggression.
Fast track
Ukraine formally applied to join NATO in September last year, in response to Russia’s proclaimed annexation of territories it invaded in the east of the country.
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has called for NATO to offer a clear and rapid path to membership.
“At the Vilnius Summit, we need a very concrete and clear signal that Ukraine could become, and has the right to become, an equal member of NATO after the war,” Zelenskyy said at a news conference in Kyiv July 1, alongside Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez.
NATO support
Ukraine’s demand has the backing of several NATO members – including Britain, Poland, and the Baltic states. The host of the summit, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda, said it was important that allies gave Kyiv a clear signal.
“We all understand that right now, being in the midst of the war, Ukraine is not able to join NATO immediately. We understand that, Ukrainians understand that. But this need to just create the corridor, procedures, algorithm - how to proceed if the war is over, or as conditions allow,” Nauseda told Reuters July 3.
Article 5
However, some NATO allies, notably the United States and Germany, have not yet endorsed fast-tracking Ukraine’s membership. There are unanswered questions, such as how would NATO’s Article 5 on collective self-defense applies to a country at war with Russia?
Fabrice Poitier, NATO’s director of policy planning under former Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, said allies should look for a creative solution.
“You could imagine an agreement where Article 5 would only apply to the non-contested or the free Ukrainian territory, those under the control of Kyiv, whilst those that are still contested – either by military means or politically, diplomatically – will be left outside the prevue of Article 5. So I think this is a more realistic scenario. But this is exactly why I think the argument is to say, let’s start that process in Vilnius,” Pothier told VOA in a July 4 interview.
Defense spending
NATO allies will also try to agree a new investment pledge to spend at least 2% of their annual gross domestic product on defense, amid concerns some members are failing to meet the target.
Sweden
Meanwhile Sweden’s application to join NATO, submitted jointly with Finland in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, continues to be blocked by Turkey, which accuses Stockholm of harboring what Ankara sees as Kurdish terrorists. Allies are hoping for a breakthrough at the summit.
China
NATO recognized China as a challenge to its security and values for the first time at last year’s summit in Madrid. Western allies are unlikely to toughen that language any further despite Beijing’s political support for Russia, says Pothier.
“However, what I think will be important in Vilnius is the meeting with the non-NATO heads of state from the Indo-Pacific region: South Korea, Japan, New Zealand and Australia, which I think will signal further how engaged the alliance is, at least at the political level, with the like-minded partners in the region,” he told VOA.
Beijing response
Mao Ning, the deputy director of information at the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China, rejected NATO’s stance on Beijing.
“Currently, the situation is generally stable in the East and South China Seas. We hope the relevant countries will tell right from wrong and do something conducive to regional peace and stability and mutual trust between all countries. Speaking of the NATO summit, it should focus on playing a constructive role in maintaining peace and stability in Europe and the world, rather than playing up China issues,” she told reporters June 30.
NATO allies will also address new and emerging threats, including climate change, cyber and space technologies.
