As fractures within the US’ network of alliances deepen, China’s strategic window opens a little wider, with some key caveats
Reports of a “European Nato” backup framework, gaining momentum after Berlin abandoned its long-standing opposition, are no longer fringe. European defence spending is projected to nearly double by 2030 to roughly US$750 billion. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s warning that the greatest threat to Nato is internal disintegration rather than external attack captures a mood widely shared among European elites.
The structural constraint behind Trump’s leverage is real, and Chinese analysts are studying it carefully. A Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) analysis of the US-Israeli campaign against Iran estimates that US forces expended roughly half their Patriot interceptors, between 53 and about 80 per cent of the THAAD inventory, and around 45 per cent of its Precision Strike Missiles. Replenishment will take one to four years.
Source: News - South China Morning Post
