NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte believes that China is capable of urging the Russian Federation to attack one of the NATO countries if it decides to carry out a military operation against Taiwan, reports Baltimore Chronicle with reference to The New York Times.
In his interview with the American publication, Rutte stated that, in his opinion, if Chinese leader Xi Jinping decides to attack Taiwan, he will first contact Russian President Vladimir Putin. The purpose of this communication is to coordinate actions to divert NATO’s attention from the Indo-Pacific region.
“He will say to him: ‘Hey, I am going to do this, and I need you to distract them in Europe by attacking NATO territory,’” Rutte noted.
According to the Secretary General, such a scenario is quite likely, and the Alliance must be prepared for it. To achieve this, Rutte said it is necessary to focus on two key areas.
First of all, NATO must be strong enough so that Russia never dares to take such aggressive action. The second important factor is deepening cooperation with the Indo-Pacific countries, which is actively promoted by U.S. President Donald Trump.
“We have close ties, joint work in the defense industry and innovation between NATO and the Indo-Pacific region countries,” the Secretary General added.
Earlier we wrote that NATO prepares for U.S. military drawdown in Europe.
