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[text/observer network qi qian] during the 10 years that nato secretary-general stoltenberg has been in office, defense spending by member states has increased significantly and the conflict between russia and ukraine has intensified. at the same time, as a product of the cold war, nato has continued to expand and interfere in regional affairs outside the region, even extending its tentacles to the asia-pacific region.

on september 19, local time, at an event hosted by the german think tank marshall fund, the outgoing stoltenberg delivered a speech, continuing to encourage member states to increase military spending and actively prepare for war, while hyping up the "china threat" on the grounds of security. he declared that "freedom is more important than trade" and that nato "must not make the same mistake with china as it did with russia."

public information shows that stoltenberg served as nato secretary-general in 2014 and extended his term for the fourth time in july last year. he will step down on october 1, 2024 and hand over the leadership of nato to former dutch prime minister mark rutte.

according to the nato website and afp, stoltenberg talked about his "achievements" in the past decade at an event themed "review of a challenging decade". he said that he led nato to cope with challenges such as the russia-ukraine conflict, intensified competition with china, and the covid-19 pandemic. during this period, the number of nato soldiers and defense spending increased significantly, and the "team of allies and partners" continued to grow.

he said that ten years ago, nato was "divided, outdated and stupid"; now, nato is "strong, united and more important than ever."

stoltenberg then left five lessons for his successor: the more money, the more effective the deterrence and the stronger the security; freedom is more important than free trade; military strength is a prerequisite for dialogue; the situation in afghanistan shows that military power is limited; isolationism will not make anyone safe.

while making the above recommendations, stoltenberg continued to ask nato member states to increase their defense spending, at least to and must exceed the level of 2% of gdp. when talking about the russian-ukrainian conflict, he called on member states to continue to provide military assistance to ukraine, claiming that "the more weapons we provide to ukraine, the greater the possibility of achieving peace and ending the war."

stoltenberg believes that "freedom is more important than trade" and claims that russia has "weaponized natural gas" to try to prevent nato from supporting ukraine. "we must not make the same mistake with china." he then began to repeat the old tune, advocating "reducing dependence on china" while maintaining engagement with china, claiming that relying on china's rare earth minerals and exporting advanced technology to china "will weaken our resilience and bring risks."

but he also warned nato members that "protectionism against allies will not protect our security."

finally, stoltenberg reiterated the importance of europe's relationship with the united states. he said: "we hear calls on both sides of the atlantic for the united states and europe to go their separate ways... but putting short-term national interests above long-term cooperation will not serve us well. isolationism will not keep anyone safe."

agence france-presse mentioned that the warning came at a time when the us allies in nato were worried that if former president trump won the election in november, he might reduce or even abandon the us commitment to nato. trump has repeatedly said that the us might stop protecting nato members that do not spend enough on defense, which has made european countries uneasy. at the same time, european countries such as france have begun the process of "defense autonomy".

in recent years, nato has been constantly hyping and escalating the so-called "china threat theory." on july 11, nato stated in a joint communiqué that china's ambitions and "coercive policies" challenge nato's interests, security and values, and pose a "systemic challenge" to the security of the euro-atlantic region. it also believes that china is committed to subverting the "rules-based international order."

at the same time, nato countries, led by the united states, have begun to invest their influence in areas outside europe, and have recently been interacting with japan, trying to use japan as a springboard to "advance eastward into the asia-pacific region." the relevant trends have aroused global vigilance, and we have repeatedly warned nato about this.

"nato, as a product of the cold war, has a long history of bad deeds." a spokesperson for our mission to the european union previously pointed out that against the backdrop of the current deteriorating international security situation, nato, as a regional military group, not only fails to reflect on its own responsibilities, but instead blindly accuses other countries, constantly interferes in extraterritorial affairs and creates confrontations, fully exposing its hypocritical nature. its expansionist ambitions and hegemonic designs are obvious.

the spokesperson of the chinese mission to the european union warned nato that china will firmly safeguard its sovereignty, security and development interests and firmly oppose nato's "eastward expansion into the asia-pacific region". any actions that undermine china's legitimate rights and interests will be resolutely countered.

in july, foreign ministry spokesperson wang wenbin reiterated that asia-pacific countries do not welcome and many nato countries do not approve of the asia-pacificization of nato, and the asia-pacific region does not need an asia-pacific version of nato. we urge nato to immediately stop distorting and smearing china and fabricating lies, abandon the outdated concept of cold war mentality and zero-sum game, abandon the wrong practice of blindly believing in military force and seeking absolute security, abandon the dangerous behavior of messing up europe and causing chaos in the asia-pacific, and stop looking for excuses for its own continued expansion, but play a constructive role in world peace and stability.

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