Is there mutual benefit in a relationship between China and NATO? What shape might such a relationship take, and what are the ramifications for both China and NATO member states? This paper argues that China and NATO share a common interest in maintaining security of the global commons, and that such a relationship could appeal to NATO's desire to extend cooperative security beyond the Euro-Atlantic area while offering the Chinese a means for protecting their interests on the global stage in a constructive, non-threatening manner. While both NATO and China have interests in Afghanistan, the most fertile ground for a future relationship lies in mutual functional interests in soft power pursuits such as crisis management, humanitarian assistance/disaster relief (HR/DR), nonproliferation, and globally-sanctioned operations that protect common goods.