NATO and the EU press China to help stop North Korea’s support for the war on Ukraine
Associated PressBRUSSELS — NATO and the European Union are ramping up efforts to persuade China to help get North Korea to stop sending troops and other support to Russia to back its war on Ukraine. Beijing cannot pretend to promote peace while turning a blind eye to increasing aggression.” On a visit to Latvia on Thursday, Rutte warned that the exchanges of missile technology in particular pose “a direct threat, not only to Europe, but also to Japan, South Korea and the U.S. mainland.” Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand now regularly attend NATO meetings. On Wednesday, after talks with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, he also said that “the Euro-Atlantic and the Indo-Pacific really have to be seen as one theater, and not as two separate ones,” and that “our security, therefore, now more and more is global, and we have to look at this as a global issue.” While North Korea and Russia have moved significantly closer, many observers say China is reluctant to form a three-way, anti-West alliance with them as it prefers a stable security environment to tackle economic challenges and maintain relationships with Europe and its Asian neighbors. In a blog published on Thursday, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell detailed his recent trip to Japan and South Korea, where North Korea’s troop deployment and other assistance to Russia was on the agenda.