 "'China should face consequences for supporting Russia over Ukraine war,' says NATO Chief Stoltenberg")
NATO Chief Jens Stoltenberg has said that if China is not willing to change the way it perceives the Ukraine war, it should face consequences for supporting Russia.
In an interview with BBC, Stoltenberg said that China is “trying to get it both ways” by supporting Russia over its war against Ukraine as well as maintaining a relationship with European allies.
“This cannot work in the long run,” he said during his ongoing trip to Washington.
The US has been constantly flagging that China equips Russia with military parts to keep the war going, which is already in its third year. Meanwhile, Beijing has repeatedly denied claims that it is feeding Moscow’s war machine.
Stoltenberg said that NATO members are holding conversations to slap China with sanctions over its support to Russia.
He said China was “sharing a lot of technologies, [like] micro-electronics, which are key for Russia to build missiles, weapons they use against Ukraine”.
“At some stage, we should consider some kind of economic cost if China doesn’t change their behaviour,” the NATO chief said.
Talking about Russia forging closer ties with Iran, China and North Korea, Stoltenberg said, “Russia right now is aligning more and more with authoritarian leaders.”
His comments came as President Vladimir Putin is all set to travel to North Korea for the first time in 24 years.
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More Shorts“So North Korea is helping Russia to conduct a war of aggression against Ukraine,” the NATO chief said in reference to Pyongyang sending artillery shells to Moscow.
Meanwhile, a record 23 of NATO’s 32 member nations are hitting the Western military alliance’s defense spending target this year as Russia’s war in Ukraine has raised the threat of expanding conflict in Europe.
“This is good for Europe and good for America, especially since much of this extra money is spent here in the United States,” Stoltenberg said.
With inputs from agencies
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