He indicated that NATO member countries “are increasing their military spending by 18% this year. This is the largest increase in decades”, largely linked to the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
“A record,” greeted Joe Biden, a way of responding to his Republican rival in the November election Donald Trump. The latter sowed panic in Europe when he threatened in February to no longer guarantee the protection of NATO countries against Russia if they did not devote a sufficient budget to their defense.
Mr. Stoltenberg, who will give up his position as NATO Secretary General in October, is visiting Washington to prepare for the summit of the Atlantic Alliance which will be held from July 9 to 11 in the American federal capital, on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of its creation.
In a speech, he attacked China, while encouraging the Western military alliance to provide more weapons to Ukraine.
“It may seem like a paradox, but the path to peace goes through more arms to Ukraine,” the NATO chief said outside the Wilson Center, a think tank in Washington.
NATO Secretary General: “Ukraine has the right to defend, which includes firing at targets on Russian territory”
Consequences
Regarding China, he noted that President Xi Jinping is trying “to give the impression that he is standing back in this conflict, in order to avoid sanctions and maintain trade flows.”
“But the reality is that China is fueling the biggest armed conflict in Europe since World War II and at the same time it wants to maintain good relations with the West,” he said.
“At some point, and unless China changes course, allies must impose a cost. There should be consequences,” argued the NATO chief.
NATO, with the United States in the lead, is increasingly criticizing aid to the Russian war effort provided by China and its companies, which supply components and equipment supporting the military sector. Russian weaponry, with an impact on the battlefield in Ukraine.
China denies directly supplying weapons to Russia.
Washington has already taken sanctions against Chinese companies and State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said Monday he expected “further measures” if China does not back down.
Mr. Stoltenberg also denounced the upcoming visit Tuesday and Wednesday of Russian President Vladimir Putin to Pyongyang.
“This shows how dependent President Putin and Moscow are now on authoritarian countries around the world,” he said, citing North Korea, Iran and China.
He notably relied on figures cited by South Korean intelligence services, according to which North Korea delivered a million shells to Russia.
The secretary general of the alliance also highlighted the fact that NATO will take charge of Western military support for Ukraine, until now led by Washington, to better anchor it in the long term at less than five month of the American elections and a possible victory for Donald Trump.
According to NATO diplomats, it aims to ensure that the flow of military aid to Ukraine cannot be interrupted by a decision from the White House in the event of a Republican victory in the November election, while the former president said he wanted to end the war.
Mr. Stoltenberg further welcomed an agreement reached at the G7 summit in Italy last week, which provides for a $50 billion loan, financed with frozen Russian assets, to Ukraine.
“The more credible our long-term support is, the sooner Moscow will realize that it cannot wait for us,” he said.
