NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte warned against an unprecedented geopolitical challenge related to Russia. As he emphasized, Moscow is rebuilding at a rate that is not equal in fresh history.
The Russians have produced 3 times more ammunition in 3 months than the full Alliance for a year. Additionally, they cooperate with North Korea, China and Iran, which importantly strengthens their military potential.
New Defence Expenditure Objective
«Indo-Pacific and Atlantic are becoming increasingly interconnected. We know that China has an eye on Taiwan" - continued Rutte. Given the full geopolitical arrangement, it is not possible for countries to defend themselves by sticking to the past 2 percent of defence spending.
The fresh level of spending of NATO countries is 5 percent of GDP, which the head of the Alliance admitted was a “large sum”. «But if we do not do this, we will gotta learn Russian» - he warned.
The US remains active in NATO
Rutte assured that talks with the American administration show that the US is full committed to NATO and Article 5. This article states that an attack on 1 ally is an attack on all.
«The US is not safe if the Atlantic, Europe and the Arctic are not safe» - said the secretary-general. He stressed the importance of common safety for both sides of the Atlantic.
China can attack with Russia's help
According to Rutte, if the Chinese leader had decided to attack Taiwan, he would have called Putin's “younger partner” first. He would say to him, «Hey, I'll do it and I request you to take them in Europe by attacking NATO».
“This is most likely the way this is going to happen”, said the NATO chief. To deter Russia and China, NATO must be strong and cooperation in the Indo-Pacific area is needed.
No plans to retreat US troops
Rutte pointed out that there is presently no discussion on the withdrawal of American forces from Europe. "As for the number of soldiers, we all agree that there should be no gaps in defence capacity in Europe" - he added.
If it comes to a turn towards Asia in the future, everything should be done so that “there is no surprise in these capacity gaps”. “This is how I talk to the American administration about it” - he noted.
Trump helped increase spending
NATO's Secretary-General admitted that the Alliance's countries have committed to 5 percent defence spending thanks to president Donald Trump. «Of course, his kind can be a bit harsh» - said Rutte.
"But I am not certain that without this kind and that sometimes it is harsh, we would have achieved the consequence at the NATO summit as we had" - added the head of the North Atlantic Alliance.
(PAP/Washington) Note: This article was edited with Artificial Intelligence.
