By Xiu Haiyun

Finland officially became the 31st member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) on April 4, NATO's birthday. In response, Russia warned it would be forced to take "retaliatory measures" to address what it called security threats created by Finland's membership. Analysts point out that Finland's accession to NATO might fundamentally transform the strategic pattern of Europe and escalate the regional security risks.

After the outbreak of conflict between Russia and Ukraine, Finland, the traditionally neutral state, took rapid "convergence" with NATO and filed an official petition for joining NATO in May 2022. Both Finland and NATO can get what they want from this eager appeal.

In recent years, NATO directed by the US has intended to establish a new order of de-Russification in Europe and reshape the security framework of this region and even the whole world on such a basis. Since the outbreak of Russia-Ukraine conflict, the US and NATO have been wild about ganging up with allies and forcing compliance by coercion, aiming to weaken the geo-strategic position of Russia in Europe. The accession of Finland will further expand the sphere of influence of NATO, which is conducive to maintaining the interest of Western countries. Meanwhile, Finland's enthusiastic initiative is schemed to obtain the security protection and seek development with the help from NATO.

Although NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg reported it was the most rapid accession course in the history of NATO, there had been twists and turns actually. The concurrent application of Sweden is still not approved due to opposition from its member state Turkey and Hungary. The setbacks behind these reflect the ingrained internal contradictions of NATO. Continuous interruptions that emerged from Turkey and Hungary to Finland and Sweden have roots in their conflicts with each other, which also mirror their divided opinions on NATO's eastward expansion and the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

Many NATO member states and their people are discontented with the eastward expansion-led security control mode, ideology-centered diplomatic and security guidelines, and unilateral strategy for seeking private interest through small cliques or blocs in NATO. They are concerned about Finland's accession will not only intensify the Russia-Ukraine conflict but also enlarge their inner divergences and induce superficial interest conflicts. Although Finland has successfully joined the NATO, the contradictions and differences within the organization have not disappeared.

Finland's accession to NATO does no good for world peace and will arouse increasing negative influences on the wide society. Finland is the country with the longest land boundary with Russia among the EU members, with a mutual adjoining length of 1340 kilometers. This move means that the bordering range between NATO and Russia will double, and Finland will become the front line of confrontation between NATO and Russia. In the future, the two sides will start a new round of contests in the military deployment along the Finnish-Russian border, which will inevitably bring about more uncertainties to Finland's security.

What's more, after Finland joins NATO, the political, economic and security deneutralization strategies of some European countries will be further strengthened, thus expediting the bloc and camp inclination within Europe. Therefore, the competition between NATO and Russia will be stuck in a deadlocked situation for long, which will be bound to endanger regional security and exacerbate global instability.

(The author is from School of History, Renming University of China)