NATO Louisa Brooke-Holland Claire Mills
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DEBATE PACK Number CDP-0151 (2018) | 18 June 2018 Compiled by: Nigel Walker Subject specialists: NATO Louisa Brooke-Holland Claire Mills Contents House of Commons Chamber 1. Background 2 2. Press Articles 4 Wednesday 20 June 2018 3. Press Releases 6 4. PQs 14 5. Other Parliamentary material 21 5.1 Debates 21 5.2 Statements 21 6. Further reading 27 See also Commons Briefing Paper: Look ahead to 2018 NATO Summit The House of Commons Library prepares a briefing in hard copy and/or online for most non-legislative debates in the Chamber and Westminster Hall other than half-hour debates. Debate Packs are produced quickly after the announcement of parliamentary business. They are intended to provide a summary or overview of the issue being debated and identify relevant briefings and useful documents, including press and parliamentary material. More detailed briefing can be prepared for Members on request to the Library. www.parliament.uk/commons-library | intranet.parliament.uk/commons-library | [email protected] | @commonslibrary 2 Number CDP-0151 (2018), 18 June 2018 1. Background NATO holds its next summit in Brussels on 11-12 July 2018. Defence Ministers met on 7-8 June to finalise plans for the summit. At the summit, NATO is expected to announce a new Atlantic Command and a new European Logistics Command. Both are driven by concerns about Russia’s military behaviour in the last few years. The Atlantic Command is a response to Russia’s increased activity in the Atlantic. The Defence Secretary, Gavin Williamson, has referred to a “significant increase” in submarine activity in the north Atlantic. The European Logistics Command recognises the need to ensure NATO troops can move easily across Alliance territory. Over the last few years NATO has actively bolstered defence capabilities along its eastern flank to act as a deterrent to Russia. The next step is to ensure troops can easily reinforce them or move quickly to wherever they may be needed. NATO says it is also looking at ways to improve the speed of decision- making and to empower the Supreme Commander to move forces around NATO. The UK is actively involved in NATO’s ‘deterrence and defence’ policy: the UK leads one of the Enhanced Forward Presence deployments in Estonia and RAF Typhoons are patrolling the skies from Romania over the Black Sea. That said, a senior NATO official has clearly stated that “NATO does not see the threat of a massive Russian military invasion of any NATO country.” NATO is also adding a cyber operation centre into the command structure. NATO declared cyberspace as an operational domain – alongside land, sea and air – in 2016. Again, this reflects growing concern about the use of cyberspace by Russia and others to “intimidate and destabilise”. Burden-sharing, and meeting NATO’s target to spend 2% of GDP on defence, will figure highly at the Summit. President Trump has been particularly vocal about the need for European allies to spend more on defence. And, aside from the actual monetary figure, a key factor is where the money is being spent: NATO Allies need the defence capabilities to contribute to NATO operations and missions. Countering instability and terrorism emanating from NATO’s southern flank will also be discussed. Tackling terrorism is not NATO’s primary task but, as with migration across the Mediterranean, it has supported the response of European Allies. NATO’s assistance will include a new package support for Jordan, a new capacity building package for Tunisia and a new training mission in Iraq. The Alliance will also reaffirm its commitment to the Resolute Support mission in Afghanistan. NATO 3 The Defence Committee is looking into US, NATO and UK defence relations and heard from the Secretary of State for Defence on 22 May 2018. The Lords International Relations Committee will shortly publish a report on the NATO Summit after taking evidence from senior NATO and FCO officials. 4 Number CDP-0151 (2018), 18 June 2018 2. Press Articles The following is a selection of press and media articles relevant to this debate. Please note: the Library is not responsible for either the views of accuracy of external content. Avoiding a NATO Train Wreck Atlantic Council Frederick Kempe 17 June 2018 Trump vs Nato: the trade war is becoming a security crisis The Spectator Fraser Nelson 16 June 2018 Russia stands to gain most from Nato row The Times Edward Lucas 15 June 2018 Merkel says Germany won't make NATO spending target until after 2024 Deutsche Welle 15 June 2018 NATO’s Enemies Within: How Democratic Decline Could Destroy the Alliance Foreign Affairs Celeste A. Wallander 14 June 2018 What’s the United States’ biggest priority for the NATO summit? Defense News Valerie Insinna 14 June 2018 What does America’s ambassador to NATO see for the alliance’s future? Defense News Aaron Mehta 12 June 2018 Nato's painful homecoming BBC News Online Jonathan Marcus 7 June 2018 NATO dashes membership hopes of Qatar Politico Benas Gerdziunas 6 June 2018 NATO 5 NATO command center to be built in Germany: report Deutsche Welle 1 June 2018 Secretary General welcomes President of Colombia to NATO NATO News 31 May 2018 NATO-Russia Council meets in Brussels NATO News 31 May 2018 Here are the top 5 issues on the docket for NATO’s 2018 summit Defense News Daniel Cebul 30 May 2018 NATO should adopt ‘hybrid warfare’ response trigger: special rapporteur Japan Times AFP 28 May 2018 NATO is welcoming its latest 'global partner' — the first one from Latin America Reuters 27 May 2018 Challenging Nato: European states should spend more on their defence to win the trust of the US The Times 18 May 2018 Britain prepares to send 400 more troops back to Afghanistan to counter Isil threat Daily Telegraph Dominic Nicholls 18 May 2018 Nato defence pledge: Why has Donald Trump had such a stormy relationship with the alliance and what is Article 5? Independent Joe Sommerlad 17 May 2018 'Great power competition': Nato announces Atlantic command to counter Russia Guardian Associated Press 5 May 2018 Needed: A Balkan initiative for the NATO summit Defense News Hans Binnendijk and Edward P. Joseph 2 May 2018 6 Number CDP-0151 (2018), 18 June 2018 3. Press Releases NATO and China resume military staff to staff talks NATO 5 June 2018 After a three year pause NATO and China have reconvened military to military staff talks. The 5th iteration of the staff talks were held on 5th of June, in the New NATO HQ in Brussels. NATO and China’s military dialogue has been constant since 2010, with yearly meetings. This dialogue was interrupted in 2016, due to several circumstances, amongst them the reforms in the Chinese armed forces and the terror attacks in Brussels in March, which led to the cancellation of the planned talks that month. After a three hiatus, staff to staff talks resumed this month with a series of meetings between NATO and Chinese military officials. Although NATO does not seek a role in Asia, the security situation in the Asia Pacific region cannot be separated from that of the Euro-Atlantic and NATO has an interest in understanding how these linkages work. China is an essential part of this 360° engagement as are our other established partners in the region. China is not part of NATO’s official network of partners but both parties value the dialogue set up. NATO’s military interaction with China in the form of staff talks, follows a clear political guidance that has developed over the last 10-15 years. As recent as last weekend (2 June) NATO’s Deputy Secretary General Rose Gottemoeller and Deputy Chairman of the NATO Military Committee, Lieutenant General Steven Shepro met with a Chinese delegation in the margins of the Shangri-La Dialog in Singapore. Additionally, both NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg and Deputy Secretary General Gottemoeller have met, on separate occasions, with the Chinese Ambassador to EU, earlier this spring. Dialogue is one of NATO’s most effective tools and cannot be neglected. There was a clear and strong agreement between the staff talks’ participants that the best way forward was to strengthen the military dialogue between NATO and China. The tone of the talks was open and candid, both parties seeking to establish a concrete way forward and focusing on practical cooperation within the established political framework. Topics in the discussions included: North Korea, the South China Sea, Maritime Security and Counter Piracy, the security perspective on Central Asia - in particular in Afghanistan and Pakistan, the European security landscape, China’s defense and military reforms, NATOs partnership policy and finally, possible areas for more practical cooperation between NATO and China. During a breakaway meeting, Lieutenant General Broeks, Director General of the NATO International Military Staff, met with Major General Ci Guowei, Deputy Chief of the Office for International Military Cooperation. Lieutenant General Broeks highlighted the importance of such meetings, “it is clear that in today’s interconnected world, NATO 7 dialogue is one of the founding blocks of cooperation. Global challenges demand global solutions and global cooperation”. One of the concrete outcomes from the staff talks is an “action list” of possible areas for practical cooperation to be developed jointly between NATO’s and Chinese Military Staffs, and which will set the pace for further engagements. Areas under consideration could include participation in conferences, like the Xingshan Conference in Beijing, participation in courses at NATO Defense College and the NATO School in Oberammergau, NATO participation in courses at China’s Defense University, better and quicker information exchange related to possible interaction between navy forces (the Navy call them Passing Exercises, PASSEX), etc.