NATO’s Big Summit Kicks Off in Washington

Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at the 75th anniversary NATO summit, the United Kingdom ending its Rwanda deportation policy, and a defense pact between Japan and the Philippines.

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NATO, Day One

Washington kicked off NATO’s 75-year anniversary summit on Tuesday to a backdrop of U.S. election uncertainty, Russia’s war in Ukraine, the rise of Europe’s far right, and security threats in the Indo-Pacific. The three-day event spotlights the “who’s who” of Western diplomacy, with delegates from all 32 member nations—as well as Australia, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea, and Ukraine—in attendance.

U.S. President Joe Biden hopes to use the summit to reinvigorate support for his reelection bid. Public opinion on Biden’s ability to hold office has soured after his disappointing—and at times confusing—debate performance last month against former U.S. President Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican Party nominee. Since then, at least six Democratic House lawmakers have called on Biden to withdraw from the race.

Yet NATO allies have been quick to offer positive assessments of the U.S. leader’s capabilities. “From the many conversations I have had with the American president, I know that he has prepared this summit very well and very precisely together with us,” German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Tuesday.

Many European leaders have expressed concern about a second Trump presidency. In February, Trump said he would encourage Russian President Vladimir Putin to “do whatever the hell” he wants to NATO members that fail to meet the alliance’s minimum defense spending commitment of 2 percent of their GDPs. Twenty-three out of 32 member countries currently meet this spending target, NATO announced last month, and on Tuesday, the alliance signed a nearly $700 million contract to produce more Stinger missiles in a bid to help members boost their weapons capabilities.

Trump has also criticized continued U.S. financial support for Ukraine. The United States is the second-largest supplier of aid to Kyiv after the European Union. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg announced last week that members have agreed to provide Ukraine with $43 billion in new military aid for 2025, but they have so far failed to commit to a multiyear military package in a bid to “Trump-proof” the alliance’s efforts.

This week, NATO plans to agree on creating a command center in Germany to help train, equip, and coordinate Ukrainian forces for Kyiv’s expected eventual accession. The alliance maintains that it will not formally welcome Ukraine into the bloc until its war with Russia concludes. However, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is expected to use this week’s summit to push for Kyiv’s membership.

Uncertainty surrounding European politics will also shape NATO debates. French President Emmanuel Macron will likely try to quell concerns over Paris’s parliamentary gridlock after a surprising left-wing victory on Sunday resulted in no party or bloc holding an absolute majority. Germany’s Scholz plans to demonstrate the strength of Europe’s largest economy amid far-right gains that have weakened his rule. And Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban is expected to attempt to balance Western support for Ukraine with his own close relationship with Putin.

NATO member concerns are not the only items on the agenda this week. South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol plans to push for greater NATO support to curtail North Korean nuclear threats. And Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has urged attendees to counter Russia’s deepening ties with Beijing and Pyongyang. “The securities of the Euro-Atlantic and the Indo-Pacific are inseparable, and Russia’s aggression against Ukraine and its deepened military cooperation with North Korea are strong reminders of that,” Kishida said.

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What We’re Following

U.K. asylum policy. London’s High Court resolved several cases on Tuesday that aimed to block the United Kingdom’s plan to deport three asylum-seekers to Rwanda. The decision follows new British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s announcement on Saturday that he will scrap the previous administration’s contentious Rwanda deportation policy. The Conservative Party’s legislation is “dead and buried,” Starmer said over the weekend.

Rwanda’s government took note of the U.K.’s intention to terminate the plan. London has already sent roughly $307 million to Kigali as part of the deal, though Rwandan President Paul Kagame said in January that the money was only going to be used if the migrants actually come. “If they don’t come, we can return the money,” he said.

The court’s decision comes as hundreds of new British parliamentarians were sworn into office on Tuesday as the Labour Party takes power for the first time in 14 years. Starmer congratulated the lawmakers for making up the most diverse parliament by race and gender in the country’s history as well as having the largest cohort of LGBTQ members of any parliament in the world.

Defense cooperation. Japan and the Philippines signed a defense pact on Monday that allows troop deployments between both nations for joint combat drills and disaster response efforts. This is a “groundbreaking achievement” aimed at countering “dangerous and escalatory actions by China” in the South China Sea, Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa said. The so-called Reciprocal Access Agreement is Japan’s first defense pact with an Asian nation.

Beijing has repeatedly clashed with Philippine vessels in the South China Sea, prompting concerns of escalation in the Indo-Pacific. Chinese officials, however, condemned the pact’s formation. “The Asia-Pacific region does not need military blocs, let alone small groupings that instigate bloc confrontations or a new Cold War,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said.

Party unity. Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva visited Bolivia late Monday to try to broker peace between Bolivian President Luis Arce and former President Evo Morales. Both figures were once part of the Movement for Socialism party, but Morales is now running against Arce in next year’s presidential election. Lula is not scheduled to meet with Morales, but he hopes that his visit will help unify the party.

The Brazilian president’s trip comes two weeks after a recently fired Bolivian military general launched an attempted coup against Arce. Coup leader Gen. Juan José Zúñiga demanded that Morales be barred from running for reelection. Morales initially condemned the uprising but has now accused Arce of having staged it himself. Arce denies the accusations.

Odds and Ends

One of Spain’s most exhilarating (and controversial) traditions commenced last Friday, with thousands of thrill-seekers traveling to Pamplona for the annual running of the bulls. But in Peru, one bovine appeared to jump the gun. Last Thursday, the cow reportedly escaped a vehicle on a Santa Anita highway and charged several people, doing its fairest imitation of its brethren bravos. Thankfully, no one was hurt. Bullfighting may be a dying practice, at least in neighboring Colombia. But according to FP’s Madrid-based reporter, “not all brown cows will go gently into that good night.”

The post NATO’s Big Summit Kicks Off in Washington appeared first on Foreign Policy.