NATO's defense hike will harm peace: Experts

Bloc slammed for threatening global stability via increased military budget

The NATO Hague summit's newly announced defense spending target appears more as a political gambit to placate the US administration than a feasible commitment, experts say, warning that NATO's tactic of hyping international tensions to justify soaring military budgets reflects a Cold War mentality.

Under US President Donald Trump's pressure, NATO members agreed to aim for 5 percent GDP defense spending — a target experts call unrealistic and destabilizing to global peace.

Jian Junbo, director of the Center for China-Europe Relations at Fudan University's Institute of International Studies, said: "The Trump administration's proposed 5 percent GDP defense spending target for NATO is baseless and smacks of extortion against Europe."