Ernst Sounds Alarm to NATO: We Must Prioritize the Threat of CCP

WASHINGTON — U.S. Senators Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Rick Scott (R-Fla.) are urging President Joe Biden to work with the United States’ North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) allies to update NATO’s strategic concept to reflect the reality of great power competition with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), even as the alliance combats Vladimir Putin’s illegal invasion of Ukraine.

The senators, in a letter to President Biden on Thursday, detailed the changes needed to the 2010 NATO strategic concept, which lacks any mention of dangers posed by China, to properly address the current threats of the CCP.

“Even as Putin continues to wage a bloody war against Ukraine near NATO’s eastern flank, the alliance must prepare to deter increasing aggression by the CCP that threatens U.S. allies and NATO territory in the Indo-Pacific,” said the letter.

This week, NATO members will meet in Madrid, where they are expected to release a new strategic concept that will guide NATO decision-making for the next several years.

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