NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and US Permanent Representative to NATO Ambassador Kay Bailey Hutchison have briefed the press prior to the NATO Foreign Ministerial in Washington,DC on 3-4 April 2019.In their respective presentations, they gave insight into the Alliance's strategic and tactical plans for meeting the threats of the present day.
Mr.Stoltenberg: Russia continues to violate the INF Treaty by developing and deploying SSC-8 missiles.These missiles are hard to detect.They lower the threshold for the use of nuclear weapons and make us all less safe.Russia continues to defy our calls to return to compliance with the INF Treaty,and time is running out.So we will discuss NATO's next steps.The Alliance remains committed to arms control; but we must also remain committed to a credible deterrence and defence.
NATO is also concerned about Russia's pattern of aggressive behaviour, including its ongoing actions against Ukraine and the seizure of Ukrainian Sailors and ships near the Sea of Azov.NATO has already stepped up its presence in the Black Sea and we continue to work closely with our partners in the region.
Just last week I saw for myself this cooperation at the 2019 NATO Georgia Exercises; and today ships from one of NATO's naval groups are in Ukraine and Georgia.These ships will take part in Exercise Sea Shield in the Black Sea.I expect Ministers will agree this week on new measures to improve our situational awareness in the region, and to step up NATO's support for both Georgia and Ukraine in areas such as training of maritime forces and Coast Guards;port visits and exercises; and sharing of information.*
We will invest more than 260 million US dollars in a project to support US Forces in Central Poland.This will fund maintenance and storage of prepositioned military equipment, which will speed up reinforcement for Europe.
I will not comment exactly on which ports we are going to visit, where and how. We are in the Black Sea.We operate there and we strongly urge all countries in the region, and especially of course Russia, to respect international law.*
NATO provides help to the Georgian Coast Guard.We are looking how we can step that up,do more of that.That is something I discussed when I visited Tbilisi a few days ago.*
Ms. Hutchison: It's unacceptable that Russia should be holding those Ukrainian Sailors in Moscow in prison right now.And so we are going to make sure that we have the capability to deter a very aggressive Russia.We need to prepare our deterrence for the violating missiles.
On defence spending, it's necessary for the risks that we all face from an aggressive Russia.There is a malign influence throughout our Alliance that Russia is producing; also counterterrorism.We need to message our publics so they understand that two percent.This is essential.
We have been working on a package that beefs up the surveillance.It is air surveillance as well as more of the NATO countries' ships going into the Black Sea to assure that there is safe passage for Ukrainian vessels through the Kerch Strait, the Sea of Azov.It is very important for Bulgaria and other nations surrounding the Black Sea that we have more attention to assuring that the countries in and around the Black Sea are safe from Russian meddling.
It is very important that Bulgaria, Romania, Ukraine,as well as Georgia, have security in that Black Sea area, both for ships, but also for their land-based safety.
On China:NATO is now assessing what China is doing.They're clearly getting much more active-especially seaports, and China is buying rights into seaports in Italy,as well as other parts of the world; getting more active in container port investment.
We are also very concerned about the 5G networks that Chinese companies have the capability to deliver; but also, because of Chinese law,have a responsibility,if the Chinese government asks for information that is proprietary, they would be required to give that to the Chinese government, which is what is of concern to NATO countries, because we want to make sure that our communications systems are secure.So if a country is investing in the 5G infrastructure, that could interrupt our NATO communications;or that could have, again, our NATO communications being distorted or disrupted.That is a very serious issue for NATO.
So we are looking at the risk,we are assessing risk.We are active in doing so with China.
We value security above everything-above economic trade, above everything else.You first have to be secure.That provides the trade capababilities.And two percent is not asking too much to make sure that we have the capabilities that we need.That is my first point.And the second is,if we look into the future, the kinds of weapons, the systems are so advanced now by nations that we might have to fight some day-and we're talking about Russia, China, North Korea,Iran- the US is making a new effort in space on the security front.We've got to realise that if we're going to keep our populations safe, that we have to be willing to make the investments to do that.
We have 29 members going on 30.We hope that North Macedonia will be a new member later this fall.And that 29 is approximately fifty percent of the GDP of the world, so we are stronger together.If we're going to face a major adversary,we need the strength that that GDP would produce, Ambassador Kay Bailey Hutchison told the press at the State Department.
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