NewsNATO chief warns west of looming threats from Russia, China

NATO chief warns west of looming threats from Russia, China

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte warned on Thursday that the West is unprepared for what awaits "in four to five years." In light of this, he called for a "shift to a wartime mindset" and to "turbo-charge our defence production and defence spending."

Mark Rutte speaks about the threat from China and Russia
Mark Rutte speaks about the threat from China and Russia
Images source: © via Getty Images | Omar Havana
Piotr Bera

During a conference organised by the think tank Carnegie Europe, Rutte emphasised that the threat from Russia is long-term, pointing to its preparations for confrontation both with Ukraine and with NATO. He also drew attention to growing Russian military expenditures, which are expected to reach 7-8% of GDP in 2025, the highest level since the Cold War.

Besides the threat from Russia, the NATO Secretary General also spoke about China's ambitions, which involve "building up its forces, including its nuclear weapons." In his opinion, Beijing plans to increase the number of its nuclear warheads from 200 in 2020 to over 1,000 by 2030. Rutte also expressed concern over China's actions towards Taiwan and attempts to gain access to the key infrastructure of NATO countries, which "could cripple our societies."

Changing the global order?

He stressed that Russia, China, North Korea, and Iran "are hard at work to try to weaken North America and Europe" and "reshape the global order." He stated that these countries "are testing us, and the rest of the world is watching."

Although the NATO Secretary General assured that there is no direct military threat to the 32 members of the Alliance, he nonetheless expressed concern about the future.

We are not ready for what is coming our way in four to five years - he said.

In this context, he highlighted the need to increase arms production to meet growing threats. He stated that "our defence industry, here in Europe, has been hollowed out by decades of underinvestment and narrow national industrial interests." He noted that Russian arms factories produce war equipment around the clock, and Russia is rebuilding its forces "much quicker than we had anticipated."

Rutte added that China is also developing its military-industrial base, acquiring advanced weapons systems "five to six times faster than the US."

In this context, he called on NATO member governments to place large orders and sign long-term contracts with the defence industry to enable it to quickly produce more and better quality equipment. He encouraged investing in innovations and "taking risks," as well as changing outdated public procurement regulations.

The NATO Secretary General also addressed the citizens of Alliance member countries, urging them to exert pressure on banks and pension funds to invest in the defence industry. He stated that "investing in defence is an investment in our security."

Regarding defence spending, Rutte noted that "it is true that we spend more on defence now than we did a decade ago. But we are still spending far less than during the Cold War."

If we don’t spend more together now to prevent war, we will pay a much, much, much higher price later to fight it - said Mark Rutte.

He concluded his speech with a call to citizens to "tell them [the politicians] you accept to make sacrifices today so that we can stay safe tomorrow."

Related content

© Daily Wrap
·

Downloading, reproduction, storage, or any other use of content available on this website—regardless of its nature and form of expression (in particular, but not limited to verbal, verbal-musical, musical, audiovisual, audio, textual, graphic, and the data and information contained therein, databases and the data contained therein) and its form (e.g., literary, journalistic, scientific, cartographic, computer programs, visual arts, photographic)—requires prior and explicit consent from Wirtualna Polska Media Spółka Akcyjna, headquartered in Warsaw, the owner of this website, regardless of the method of exploration and the technique used (manual or automated, including the use of machine learning or artificial intelligence programs). The above restriction does not apply solely to facilitate their search by internet search engines and uses within contractual relations or permitted use as specified by applicable law.Detailed information regarding this notice can be found  here.

We value your privacy

Daily Wrap is a part of Wirtualna Polska media company. Click "I ACCEPT AND GO TO THE WEBSITE" to give your consent to the use of automated technologies to collect and use data on the Internet, and to the processing of your personal data by Wirtualna Polska, IAB Trusted Partners (870 partners) and other Trusted Partners (403 partners), and to our sharing with the aforementioned Trusted Partners of the identifiers assigned to you for marketing purposes (including for automated matching of advertisements to your interests and for measuring their effectiveness) and for other purposes that we specify below. You can also make decisions about permissions in the Advanced settings.


Based on your consent, Wirtualna Polska, IAB Trusted Partners and other Trusted Partners will process your personal data collected on the Internet (including on e-commerce partners' websites), including through forms, such as IP addresses, your device identifiers and cookie identifiers, and other identifiers assigned to you and information about your activity on the Internet. The data will be processed for the following purpose: to store or access information on a device, use limited data to select advertising, create profiles for personalized advertising, use profiles to select personalized advertising, create profiles related to personalize content, use profiles to select personalized content, measure advertising performance, measure content performance, understand audiences through statistics or combinations of data from different sources, develop and improve services, use limited data to select content.


Within the framework of its functions and special functions, Wirtualna Polska may take the following actions:

  1. Match and combine data from other data sources
  2. Link different devices
  3. Identify devices based on information transmitted automatically
  4. Actively scan device characteristics for identification

The purposes of processing of your data by IAB Trusted Partners and other Trusted Partners are as follows:

  1. Store and/or access information on a device
  2. Use limited data to select advertising
  3. Create profiles for personalised advertising
  4. Use profiles to select personalised advertising
  5. Create profiles to personalise content
  6. Use profiles to select personalised content
  7. Measure advertising performance
  8. Measure content performance
  9. Understand audiences through statistics or combinations of data from different sources
  10. Develop and improve services
  11. Use limited data to select content
  12. Ensure security, prevent and detect fraud, and fix errors
  13. Deliver and present advertising and content
  14. Save and communicate privacy choices

Within the framework of the functions and special functions, our IAB Trusted Partners and Trusted Partners may take the following actions:

  1. Match and combine data from other data sources
  2. Link different devices
  3. Identify devices based on information transmitted automatically
  4. Actively scan device characteristics for identification

In order to take the above action, our IAB Trusted Partners and other Trusted Partners also need your consent, which you can give by clicking "I ACCEPT AND GO TO THE WEBSITE" or make a decision regarding the consent in Advanced settings.


The purposes of processing your data without a need to obtain your consent based on the legitimate interest of Wirtualna Polska and IAB Trusted Partners are stated, and the option to object to the processing, is available in Advanced settings.


The purposes, special purposes, features and special features of the data processing are described in detail in the Advanced Settings.


Here you can find the websites of our e-commerce partners, from which we may process your personal data on the basis of your consent.


The consent is voluntary and you can withdraw it at any time after reopening the settings window by clicking on the "Privacy Settings" link located in the footer of each website.


Please note that by giving your consent, your data may be transferred to our Trusted Partners in third countries, i.e. countries outside the European Economic Area.


You have the right to request access, rectification, deletion, restriction, transfer of data processing, file an objection, file a complaint with the regulatory authority under the terms of the Privacy Policy.


To change your privacy preferences, you can click on the Advanced Settings or "Privacy Settings" link located in the footer of each website where you can provide or withdraw consent or otherwise manage your choices. Detailed information about the processing of your personal data can be found in the privacy policy.