Pomimo dającej się zarysować w kilku sferach wspólnoty interesów (zwalczanie terroryzmu, cyberbezpieczeństwo, piractwo morskie, kwestie budowy środków zaufania i bezpieczeństwa), wiele wskazuje na to, że w najbliższym czasie nie dojdzie do zasadniczego zbliżenia pomiędzy Chinami a Sojuszem Północnoatlantyckim. Potencjalną współpracę blokuje głównie polityka Chin, które postrzegają NATO jako narzędzie ekspansji Stanów Zjednoczonych oraz ich hegemonii zarówno w regionie transatlantyckim, jak i poza nim. Pomimo starań kilku członków NATO, by zainicjować z Chinami dialog, a nawet współpracę w obszarze zadeklarowanych wspólnych interesów (operacja w Afganistanie), wysiłki te ostatecznie zakończyły się niepowodzeniem, a od momentu wybuchu wojny w Ukrainie dystans pomiędzy potencjalnymi partnerami jeszcze się pogłębił. W najbliższym czasie stan relacji pomiędzy Chinami a NATO będzie w głównej mierze wypadkową stosunku Stanów Zjednoczonych wobec Chin, a te od czasów ery Trumpa weszły w fazę ostrej rywalizacji oraz wyrażanych przez Chiny opinii na temat instrumentalnego wykorzystywania przez USA Paktu Północnoatlantyckiego do realizacji własnych celów w polityce bezpieczeństwa.

The policy of the People’s Republic of China towards the North Atlantic Alliance – determinants, actual state and prospects

Despite a possible commonality of interests in several spheres (counter‑terrorism, cyber‑security, maritime piracy, confidence‑building and security issues), there are many indications that there will be no fundamental rapprochement between China and the North Atlantic Alliance in the near future. Potential cooperation is blocked mainly by the politics of China, which sees NATO as a tool for the expansion of the United States and its hegemony both in the transatlantic region and beyond. Despite the efforts of several NATO members to initiate dialogue and even cooperation with China in the area of declared common interests (the operation in Afghanistan), these efforts ultimately failed, and since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine the distance between the potential partners has widened even further. In the near term, the state of relations between China and NATO will be mainly a product of the attitude of the United States toward China, and these have entered a phase of fierce rivalry since the Trump era, as well as China’s expressed views on the US’ instrumental use of the North Atlantic Pact to achieve its own goals in security policy.

Despite a possible commonality of interests in several spheres (counter‑terrorism, cyber‑security, maritime piracy, confidence‑building and security issues), there are many indications that there will be no fundamental rapprochement between China and the North Atlantic Alliance in the near future. Potential cooperation is blocked mainly by the politics of China, which sees NATO as a tool for the expansion of the United States and its hegemony both in the transatlantic region and beyond. Despite the efforts of several NATO members to initiate dialogue and even cooperation with China in the area of declared common interests (the operation in Afghanistan), these efforts ultimately failed, and since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine the distance between the potential partners has widened even further. In the near term, the state of relations between China and NATO will be mainly a product of the attitude of the United States toward China, and these have entered a phase of fierce rivalry since the Trump era, as well as China’s expressed views on the US’ instrumental use of the North Atlantic Pact to achieve its own goals in security policy.