LONDON – NATO must work to strengthen security in the Indo-Pacific region, the British foreign minister said, stressing Taiwan’s need for protection against China.
Speaking to the UK’s foreign policy on Wednesday night, Liz Truss said the UK rejected the “false choice between Euro-Atlantic security and Indo-Pacific security” in favor of “global NATO”.
“I mean, NATO needs to have a global perspective, ready to deal with global threats,” Trus said. “We must prevent threats in the Indo-Pacific region by working with allies such as Japan and Australia to ensure that the Pacific is protected. We must ensure that democracies like Taiwan are able to defend themselves.
Western countries have argued that Russian President Vladimir Putin should not be allowed to win the war in Ukraine or be seen as capable of invading another country with impunity, amid fears that this could encourage China to act aggressively against Taiwan.
Trusse’s speech reflected a similar message from UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson at a security conference in Munich in February.
Her remarks come as NATO members discuss the alliance’s new “strategic concept”, which outlines its mission for the next decade and is to be agreed at the next NATO summit in Madrid on June 29-30.
There is a lively debate among members of the alliance over how much the new document should focus on China’s security threats to the Indo-Pacific region.
Trus, meanwhile, called on Western allies to supply fighter jets to Ukraine, saying the nation’s war against Russia was “our war” because Ukraine’s victory is “a strategic imperative for all of us.”
She added: “Heavy weapons, tanks, planes – digging deep into our reserves, increasing production. We have to do all this. “
Earlier, Downing Street refused to exclude the training of Ukrainian pilots or the sending of British aircraft to Eastern Europe. “Although there are no plans to send things like planes from the UK, we certainly want to work with other countries to ensure that Ukraine has the necessary equipment,” said Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s spokesman.
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