Russian president Vladimir Putin will help China invade Taiwan by attacking a nation in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in order to distract Europe, Nato secretary general Mark Rutte warned.
The former prime minister of the Netherlands was answering a question on the defence commitments of US president Donald Trump, especially to the world and in the Indo-Pacific, at a time when the Republican leader has made a push for “America First” priorities on the domestic and international stage.
“There’s an increasing realisation, and let’s not be naïve about this: If Xi Jinping would attack Taiwan, he would first make sure that he makes a call to his very junior partner in all of this, Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, residing in Moscow, and telling him, ‘Hey, I’m going to do this, and I need you to to keep them busy in Europe by attacking Nato territory’,” Mr Rutte told the New York Times in an interview on the sidelines of the Nato summit in Brussels last month.
Mr Rutte said this scenario in which Taiwan is invaded by China is “most likely the way this will progress” and that Beijing and Moscow will need to be deterred.
Beijing claims Taiwan as a breakaway province, and Chinese president Xi Jinping has threatened to “reunite” the island with the mainland, by force if necessary. The Taiwanese people largely favour the status quo which gives them de facto independence.
He also added that Mr Trump’s foreign policy is promoting working together with the Indo-Pacific.
“And to deter them, we need to do two things. One is that Nato, collectively, being so strong that the Russians will never do this. And second, working together with the Indo-Pacific – something President Trump is very much promoting. Because we have this close interconnectedness, working together on defence industry, innovation between Nato and the Indo-Pacific,” he told the NYT.
The Nato chief, who recently was chided for calling the US president “daddy” for inserting the US in the Middle East conflict between Israel and Iran, and bringing the fighting to a supposed end, also praised the defence officials like Marco Rubio and Pete Hegseth as “excellent foreign policy team” put together by Mr Trump.
