NATO chairman says member states need to “strengthen” China policy
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said that when the leaders of NATO member states meet in Brussels next week, they need to strengthen their collective policy towards an increasingly aggressive China.
“China does not approve of our values,” Stoltenberg told CBC Chief Political Correspondent Rosemary Button in a live interview with Rosemary Button, which aired today.
“We see this in the way they suppressed democratic protests in Hong Kong, how they suppressed ethnic minorities such as Uyghurs, and how they used modern technology and social media. [and] Facial recognition, surveillance, and surveillance of our own population in ways we have never seen before.
“All of this makes it very important for NATO to formulate policies and strengthen our policies towards China.”
Stoltenberg said that China’s arrest and continued detention of Canadians Michael Spavor and Michael Cummingkai is “absolutely unacceptable”. This is also when China “does something they don’t like in a country”. An example of how to react.
Kovrig and Spavor were detained in China on December 10, 2018-9 days after Meng Wanzhou, the chief financial officer of Huawei Technologies, was arrested while transiting in Vancouver.
In August 2013, Meng was detained by the US for an extradition request, accusing her of lying to Hong Kong bankers about Huawei’s control of a subsidiary accused of violating US sanctions against Iran.
It is generally believed that the arrests of Kang Mingkai and Spavor are Beijing’s retaliation against Meng’s arrest.
Cooperate with China and oppose China
“I saw myself that as the Prime Minister of Norway, when a Norwegian [Nobel] Peace Prize Committee Presenting a peace prize to a Chinese dissident Then China actually tried to isolate Norway and impose economic sanctions on Norway,” Stoltenberg said. “So this kind of behavior only makes it more important for us to stand together. “
Stoltenberg said that although China’s rise has caused concerns, the world will still have to engage with superpowers on issues such as arms control, climate change, and the global economy.
The NATO Secretary-General stated that in addition to discussing the rising threat from China, Monday’s meeting will also allow NATO leaders to “strengthen our transatlantic ties” without distracting former US President Donald Trump.
As we all know, Trump threatened to withdraw the United States from NATO because member states were frustrated by members with insufficient military funds.
“It is no secret that we had some challenging discussions among NATO allies during the Trump administration,” Stoltenberg said.
“At the same time, I think what we have seen over the years is the strength of NATO and the importance of NATO and other multilateral institutions, because our institutionalized cooperation surpasses individual political leaders and can withstand different political winds.”
Stoltenberg said that even if Trump denigrated the alliance and threatened to withdraw, the two parties in the United States still broadly support staying in the alliance. Now that Trump is gone, he said he fully expects the United States to renew its commitment to NATO.
“What I welcome is that we now have a U.S. President, President Biden, who is firmly committed to NATO and European security and is ready to make more investments in NATO,” he said.
