The Multidimensional Strategies of Chinese Revisionism: Implications For NATO

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) has faced numerous emergent challenges in the contemporary era of power transitions and increased strategic competition. One particular strategic competitor NATO now faces is China. Emerging from decades of significant economic growth, China is now prepared to demonstrate its willingness and strong desire to assertively pursue its interests. In the 2024 Washington Summit Declaration, NATO stated that the People’s Republic of China (PRC) continues “to challenge our interests, security and values.” The distinct nature of China’s foreign policy makes it a unique strategic challenge for NATO. It is often characterized by scholars to be revisionist in nature. Revisionism is an approach to understanding the presence of these states, examining how they attempt to challenge or change the status quo they are dissatisfied with. With an evident increase in the presence of revisionist states in world politics, further research and attention is necessary. This analysis will examine the case of China as a revisionist power and how Chinese revisionism affects and challenges NATO. Revisionism will be employed as a guiding theoretical framework through which revisionist strategies can be examined. Understanding the strategies utilized by revisionist powers is critical as they illustrate the broader strategic objectives behind such policies and clarify the kind of structural pressure the international system is subjected to. The strategies employed by revisionist states vary in their means and the ways in which they challenge, undermine, or threaten the status quo and the powers that defend it. With immense technological developments, the strategies employed by revisionist states are growing in complexity and often target the hybrid domain, which rests between the political and military domains, while remaining just below the threshold of war. As new revisionist states emerge, status quo-defending actors are faced with an unavoidable problem. The following question will thus guide this analysis: How does Chinese revisionism affect NATO? This article is organized into four main sections, beginning with a literature review on revisionism. This section will introduce foundational aspects of the concept and provide an overview of relevant works. The following section will put forth the argument that China is a revisionist power, examining the nature of Chinese revisionism. The analysis section will follow, where China’s revisionist strategies are examined across three domains. Lastly, the conclusion will provide an overview of the analysis, delving into findings and areas for further research.