She noted that when the US “quite foolishly” said back in 2008 that Ukraine and Georgia would become members of NATO, it was a red flag to Moscow.
Assoc Prof Hanson said one reason why some are hesitant to give Ukraine full membership status is due to NATO being a collective defence organisation.
Under Article 5 of its treaty, if any one member country comes under attack, all the other members of the alliance are obligated to go to that country’s aid.
“So I think that next week, leaders will be much more circumspect about making any such commitments,” she said.
However, Ms Smith stressed that “NATO enlargement has nothing to do with the reason that Russia went into Ukraine”.
“This is an unprovoked act of aggression, and Ukraine did nothing to deserve this war. It has a right to protect its territory under the UN (United Nations) charter,” she said.
“It is protecting right now, not only its own territory, but it is protecting the principles of the UN charter to which most countries around the world are a party.”
THE CHALLENGE OF CHINA
Ms Smith added that the challenge of dealing with China will be discussed at the upcoming summit, as well as at next year’s summit which will be held in Washington.
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