The Labour Party, which came to power not long ago in the British government, recently did something that the United States does not like very much, which is to undermine NATO.

According to the latest news from Lianhe Zaobao, the new British cabinet's defense minister plans to lobby many European countries in the hope of signing bilateral defense cooperation documents with them. Currently, Britain and Germany have signed a joint defense declaration, pledging to jointly support Ukraine and safeguard "European security." Next, France, another "leader" in Europe, as well as Poland and Estonia in Eastern Europe, are also the targets of the new British defense minister's visit.

At first glance, the UK's move seems a bit "redundant". After all, the countries listed above are all NATO members and are military allies with the UK. So, what is the purpose of the UK signing a bilateral defense document?

This issue can be analyzed from two perspectives.

First, it should be that the UK intends to refer to Japan's template and make itself the "second sheriff" of the United States in the Atlantic, improve its own status in Europe, add a "safety lock" between each other, and increase its influence on the EU. After Brexit, the UK's position has been very embarrassing, and it has been completely marginalized in the economic, political and military fields. The British Labour Party itself advocates easing relations with the EU. However, there are too many "debts" left by Brexit, and now the European economy is generally in a quagmire, and there is not enough cake to share. It is too difficult for the UK to ease relations with the EU in the economic field. At the same time, Japan's active signing of bilateral defense documents with the US agents in the Indo-Pacific over the past period of time should have given the UK some inspiration. Therefore, it is not surprising that the British Labour Party cabinet decided to start with the military to reshape the UK-EU relationship.

Second, as the situation of the US election becomes more and more favorable to Trump, European countries generally fall into distrust of the United States, and the UK wants to seize this opportunity to promote Europe's "self-digestion". Trump had a very unpleasant relationship with the European Union during his last term. Now, before he wins the election, he has repeatedly stated in a high-profile manner that he wants to treat the Ukrainian crisis as a "burden" and completely dump it on Europe. Now Europe has torn its face with Russia and faces the risk of being "cut off" by the United States. Life is very difficult. In this case, the UK provides an option outside of NATO. Even if the gold content is limited, European countries are very happy to follow the UK in order to bargain with the United States.

However, if the bilateral defense network led by the United Kingdom takes shape, the future of NATO will be hard to predict. First, the United States will certainly feel that European countries have "two hearts" towards it, and the rift between the United States and Europe will most likely become deeper. Secondly, after the United Kingdom has taken this lead, countries such as France and Germany may also follow suit and build a defense network centered on themselves. Europe is likely to set off a wave of bilateral defense cooperation. If this really happens, then NATO's core position in the European security field will inevitably be weakened.

There is one more thing to say. The Ukrainian crisis in the past few years has actually given a shot in the arm to NATO, which is already in the ICU. But now, the effect of this shot in the arm is obviously about to expire. I hope NATO will stop holding on and disintegrate quickly.