By Dong Yifan
董一凡
NATO and the EU signed a joint declaration on cooperation on January 10, saying that China's growing assertiveness and policies presented challenges that they need to address. For the EU, which seeks security and development, strengthening its ties with NATO is only a fruitless approach that may drag itself into the vortex of more conflicts and confrontation.
北约与欧盟10日签署合作联合宣言，称“中国越来越强硬的态度和政策”给欧盟和北约带来挑战。对谋求安全与发展的欧盟来说，与北约加强捆绑不仅是缘木求鱼，还可能使自身卷入更多冲突和对抗的漩涡。
The EU is the biggest achievement of the political trial in European integration. The prospects of European civilization were once in jeopardy after the catastrophe of the two world wars on the European continent. Konrad Adenauer, Charles de Gaulle and other European politicians with strategic vision promoted the development of European unity with extraordinary foresight and political courage. They not only laid the cornerstone of post-war peace and stability in Europe but also built Europe into an important part of the international political and economic structure.
欧盟是欧洲一体化政治试验的最大成果。欧洲大陆经历两次世界大战的浩劫后，欧洲文明发展前景曾一度危在旦夕。阿登纳、戴高乐等老一辈具有战略眼光的欧洲政治家，以超凡的远见和政治魄力，推动欧洲联合的事业发展，不仅奠定欧洲战后和平与稳定的基石，也将欧洲打造成国际政治与经济格局的重要一极。
In contrast, NATO was born to serve the Cold War confrontation and military camp confrontation. NATO is a tool for the US to maintain its hegemony on the European continent, and to bind and coerce European countries to continuously conduct geopolitical squeeze and military deterrence against the Soviet Union (Russia). Today, NATO has transformed into an existence that conducts external armed intervention, creates and exacerbates regional conflicts and turmoil, and exports security anxiety. In this process, the prospect of peace and development in Europe has eventually become the "fuel" for the US, the actual leader of NATO, to pursue political and strategic self-interest. NATO's practice of constantly creating confrontation and incidents has not only become the main factor of the Ukrainian crisis, with endless conflicts, turmoil, and ethnic and religious contradiction left behind, but also a major source of challenges including Europe's circumjacent security, refugees and terrorism.
反观北约，诞生之初就是服务于冷战对抗和军事阵营对立。北约是美国在欧洲大陆维持霸权、捆绑裹挟欧洲国家并向苏联（俄罗斯）不断进行地缘挤压和军事威慑的工具。如今，北约已转变为开展对外武装干涉、制造和加剧地区矛盾动荡、输出安全焦虑和安全困境的存在。这个过程中，欧洲和平与发展的前景越来越变成北约实际主导者美国追求政治与战略私利的“燃料”。北约不断制造对抗和事端的做法，不仅成为乌克兰危机的主要肇始因素，而且留下无尽的冲突、动荡、民族宗教矛盾，这也成为欧洲周边安全乃至难民、恐怖主义等挑战的一大根源。
Today, the US-led NATO once again takes advantage of Europe's security anxiety and political panic in the context of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, and continues to peddle the already rotten "China threat theory" to seek helpers for the US to comprehensively contain and suppress China. The China-related contents in the Joint Declaration on EU-NATO Cooperation confuse right and wrong and present typical practice of judging unfairly a noble person with own despicable mind. One of the most important messages conveyed by the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) held in October 2022 is that China will continue to pursue an independent foreign policy of peace and a national defense policy that is defensive in nature. China would never seek hegemony or engage in military expansion, no matter how developed it becomes. In contrast, the US and NATO have been fanning the flames and creating conflicts around the world for decades. It is not that China challenges them, instead, they have been extending to the Asia-Pacific region in various ways and trying to weave a network of containment and suppression around China.
如今，美国主导下的北约再次利用欧洲在俄乌冲突情境下的安全焦虑和政治恐慌，不断推销和兜售已经烂大街的“中国威胁论”，试图为其“盟主”美国对华全面遏制打压拉拢帮手。《欧盟—北约合作联合宣言》中的涉华内容颠倒黑白，是典型的“以己之心度他人之腹”。去年10月举行的中共二十大传递出的最重要信息之一，就是中国将继续坚持奉行独立自主的和平外交政策和防御性国防政策，中国无论发展到什么程度，永远不称霸，永远不搞扩张。反观美国和北约，数十年如一日地在世界各地煽风点火、制造冲突。不是中国“挑战”它们，而是它们一直在以多种方式向亚太地区延伸扩展，试图在中国周边编织遏制打压之网。
In fact, in recent years, especially after experiencing the economic impact and geopolitical turmoil of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, many politicians and far-sighted people have begun to reflect on whether the US and NATO are helping Europe become more secure, or they are gaining political and economic self-interest through peddling security anxiety and even directly creating conflicts. Considering what the US had done when Europe suffered from an energy crisis, high inflation, and the huge loss of manufacturing industry, the EU should think again about what strategic autonomy is. The cognitive assessment of so-called security and threats should also return to one's own real interests and the original intention of seeking peaceful development, rather than continue to be dragged into the ditch by the US and NATO.
事实上，近些年来，尤其是在经历俄乌冲突的经济冲击和地缘动荡之后，欧洲不少政治人物和有识之士已经开始反思美国和北约到底是在帮助欧洲变得更安全，还是通过贩卖安全焦虑，甚至直接制造冲突来攫取政治和经济私利。鉴于在欧洲遭遇能源危机、通胀高企、制造业受重创的情况下美国的所作所为，欧盟应该再次深思什么是“战略自主”。对于所谓安全与威胁的认知评估，也应回到自身现实利益以及谋求和平发展的初心上来，而非继续被美国和北约往沟里带。
(The author is a researcher at the Institute of European Studies, China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations)
（作者是中国现代国际关系研究院欧洲所学者）
Editor's note: Originally published on huanqiu.com, this article is translated from Chinese into English and edited by the China Military Online. The information and opinions in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of eng.chinamil.com.cn.
