75 Years of NATO: As Member Countries Gathered for 75th NATO Anniversary Summit, What Were The Key Focus Areas?

75 Years of NATO: As Member Countries Gathered for The leaders of NATO are to be hosted by Joe Biden, President of the United States in Washington, DC. NATO recently marked 75 long years since its inception. This comes in the backdrop of security threats coming from the Russian invasion of Ukraine, along with the increasing assertiveness of China in the Asia Pacific.

The starting date of the NATO summit is July 9 and the ending date is July 11. NATO this time is majorly themed around reassuring Ukraine of NATO's unwavering support post the Russian missile attacks on Ukrainian cities. Russia chose to attack a children's hospital in Kyiv. The Russian attacks killed over 31 people.

The NATO this time marked the very first international appearance for Keir Starmer, the new British Prime Minister. The Labour Party of the UK Prime Minister received a landslide victory in the general elections. 

It was in the year 1949 when NATO was formed amid the Cold War background. The purpose was to combat the threats brought forward by the Soviet Union. The members of NATO are committed to a collective military defense, as per Article 5. This collective military defense means that an attack on one of its members is seen as an attack on all the members. This makes the member countries act collectively and keeps all the enemies at a distance. Since its inception, the alliance has grown to 32 members from 12 members. Sweden is the newest member of the NATO.

Here we talk about the key agendas in focus this time.

The Key Areas of Focus in NATO

The key topic of focus in the NATO summit this time has been support for Ukraine. On Monday, in a White House news briefing, Mike Carpenter, the security adviser of Joe Biden expressed to the reporters that NATO allies are expected to declare new support for Ukraine. This would include renewed funding of a total of 40 billion euros in the coming year. 

Another agenda was to reassure that South Korea, Japan, and Australia, the Asia-Pacific partners of NATO get the support against China. 

China has been accused of increasing its military presence in the South China Sea, which is a crucial trade union and a disputed area. China claims about all of it. Many other governments, on the other hand, claim territory over the region. These countries include Taiwan and the Philippines. These nations contest the increasing assertiveness of China.

The NATO countries depend on trade passing via the region. NATO is interested in stabilizing the route. Another target is to safeguard Taiwan.

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