瑞典今天正式成為北約第32個成員國
瑞典外交部長Ulf Kristersson今天在美國國務院把北約文件交給美國國務卿布林肯，完成加入北約的最後一個步驟，正式成為北約第32個成員國。
北約成員國匈牙利和土耳其雖然拖延瑞典加入北約的進程，但這兩國今年還是批准瑞典加入北約，芬蘭和瑞典先後改變軍事不結盟的長期立場。
因為瑞典曾經批評匈牙利的民主體制，導致匈牙利總理歐班一直都反對瑞典加入北約。不過瑞典首相上個月在匈牙利布達佩斯跟歐班見面後，雙方都承諾努力解決分歧，瑞典宣佈增售瑞典製戰機給匈牙利，歐班表示兩國未來都承諾會為彼此犧牲。
土耳其在一月批准瑞典加入北約，土耳其總統艾爾多安曾經表示，土耳其沒辦法忍受瑞典政府包庇恐怖組織庫德工人黨，後來瑞典把一名遭定罪的庫德族武裝分子引渡回土耳其，土耳其對此表示讚賞。
原文出處 割蘿蔔外電譯站 Global News For Taiwan
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Sweden formally joins NATO military alliance, ending centuries of neutrality
Sweden officially joined NATO as its 32nd member on Thursday, almost two years after first applying to the military alliance.
Earlier on Thursday, the Swedish government said in a statement it was holding an extraordinary meeting to vote on joining NATO after all current members had approved its accession to the military alliance.
The news was then confirmed later Thursday with a statement from NATO, with Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg saying the country was “taking its rightful place at our table.”
“Sweden’s accession makes NATO stronger, Sweden safer, and the whole Alliance more secure. I look forward to raising their flag at NATO HQ on Monday,” he added.
Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson traveled to Washington, D.C., this week to hand over the final documents. The country first applied to join NATO in May 2022, not long after Russia’s war on Ukraine began. This marked a significant change in Sweden’s previous policy of military nonalignment which stretches back to the Napoleonic wars.
Finland became an official member of NATO last April, also prompted by Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine. Authorities in both Helsinki and Stockholm decided that in the wake of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, their nations were no longer safe on their own and applied to join the alliance a few months later.
NATO members Hungary and Turkey delayed the process of Sweden’s accession, with both countries only voting in favor of it this year. All existing members must approve a new country joining the alliance, whose key principle is that an attack on one of them is an attack on all of them.
Hungary’s governing party, led by Prime Minister Viktor Orban, long opposed Sweden’s NATO membership amid Sweden’s criticism of the state of democracy in Hungary. The prime ministers of both countries met in Budapest, Hungary, last month and committed to work through differences, saying they would “die for each other.”
Turkey, meanwhile, ratified Sweden’s NATO membership in January. It had previously said that Sweden was too tolerant of group’s that Turkey’s government views as security threats. Anti-Muslim protests in Sweden last year further soured relations.
source CNBC