New NATO secretary general warned Donald Trump that the United States would face a serious threat from China, Iran and North Korea if Ukraine was pushed into signing a deal of peace on terms favorable to Moscow.
In an interview with the Financial Times, Mark Rutte said deepening ties between US adversaries put America at risk, as he asked the president-elect to stand by NATO and continue supporting Ukraine.
Rutte highlighted the risks of Russia supplying missile technology to North Korea and money to Iran. Apparently referring to Taiwan, he said Chinese President Xi Jinping might have ideas on something else in the future if there was not much agreement. [for Ukraine].
We can't have a situation where we have [North Korean leader] Kim Jong Un, Russian leader, Xi Jinping and Iran are congratulating each other because we have reached an agreement which is not good for Ukraine, because in the long term it will pose a serious security threat not only from Europe but also from the United States, Rutte told the FT in his first interview as head of the Western military alliance.
Rutte said he made the point to Trump during their meeting in Florida on November 22, as part of an effort to persuade the US president-elect to stay engaged with his Western allies and maintain US support to Ukraine.
Look at the missile technology that is currently being sent from Russia to North Korea, which poses a serious threat not only to South Korea, Japan, but also to the American continent, Rutte told Trump.
Iran receives money from Russia in exchange for, for example, missiles, but also drone technology. And this money is used to support Hezbollah and Hamas, but also to direct the conflict beyond the region, he said.
So the fact that Iran, North Korea, China and Russia are working so closely together…[means] These different regions of the world where conflicts exist and must be managed by politicians, are increasingly connected, Rutte said.
And there is a certain Xi Jinping who is watching very carefully what will result from this, he added, apparently referring to fears that if Russia is allowed to seize large parts of Ukraine, Xi could feel encouraged to use force against Taiwan. These are the points I raised.
During his presidential campaign, Trump promised to end the war in Ukraine within 24 hours. He chose former general Keith Kellogg as special envoy for Ukraine and Russia, who called for freezing existing battle lines and forcing kyiv and Moscow to the negotiating table.
Rutte took office in October with a strong track record of successfully working with Trump during his first presidency. The former Dutch prime minister was integral to efforts in 2018 to get NATO allies to spend more on defense to head off Trump's threat to withdraw U.S. support for the alliance.
We have a strong relationship. We liked each other when I was in my previous position, when he was president. And I feel that we can work on the same basis. And it helps that you genuinely find it a pleasure to work together.
Rutte will chair a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Brussels on Tuesday, during which Ukraine's top diplomat demanded that the country receive a formal invitation to join the alliance, something the United States and Ukraine Germany, in particular, have ruled out in the near future. .
The secretary general said it was more important to increase military support for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky ahead of possible peace talks than to debate when membership might be offered.
The most important thing now is to ensure that whenever Zelensky decides to engage in peace talks, he can do so from a position of strength, Rutte said. This is now priority number one for me.
He said the sequence of peace talks and an invitation to NATO membership are subjects on which the allies consult clearly; what could be the best next step and how to work towards it.
But what I always tell them when they ask me: I say, well, this is all very good and we need these debates, but right now the most important thing is to get your military aid into Ukraine, especially air. defense, but also the offensive systems they need to fight a war, he added.
