Nato’s secretary general has praised American leadership for pushing the transatlantic security alliance’s members to act on threats from China, effectively validating former US president Donald Trump’s stance towards the Asian giant.
“You shifted your policy on China in 2017 under President Trump, and since then, Nato has gone a long way in helping European allies fully appreciate the challenges posed by China and respond to it,” Jens Stoltenberg said in remarks at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, in Washington.
Stoltenberg described “the China challenge” as a task the US could not do alone.
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“And you don’t have to,” he said. “Through Nato, the US has the support of 31 allies and the vast network of partners, especially in the Indo-Pacific”.
The remarks followed fresh criticism of the alliance by Trump, the front runner for the Republican Party’s 2024 presidential nomination.
“We are paying for Nato and we don’t get so much out it,” he said last week during a campaign event.
“And I hate to tell you this about Nato. If we ever needed their help – let’s say we were attacked – I don’t believe they’d be there.”
During his presidency, Trump repeatedly threatened to cut American funding for Nato and pull the US out of it.
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Stoltenberg on Wednesday asserted things had changed at Nato and that in these “dangerous times, we must stand strong”.
“Over many years, the United States has criticised Nato allies for not spending enough on defence,” he added. “Rightly so.”
All Nato members were now contributing at a higher level than before, Stoltenberg said, with the additional amount totalling US$450 billion more for the alliance.
Earlier on Wednesday, the secretary general told CNN he was confident that if Trump were re-elected to the White House the US would remain a “staunch ally” of Nato.
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