NATO Secretary General at the Heritage Foundation, 31 JAN 2024

Speech by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg at the Heritage Foundation, USA on 31 January 2024.

🗣 | NATO Secretary General:

Good morning all.
It is great to be back in Washington.
And a pleasure to speak at the Heritage Foundation.

You seek to advance the interests of American citizens.
And stand up for ideas that strengthen America,
and the fundamental values that underpin this great democratic nation.
Freedom, opportunity and prosperity.

Today, these values are under attack by malign foreign actors seeking to undermine them.
They are threatening our free world.
They are openly contesting American power.
And not just America.

They are trying to trample over the global rules that keep us all safe.
These are dangerous times.

China is modernising its military and developing new weapons,
without any transparency or any limitation.
It is trading unfairly.
Buying up critical infrastructure.
Bullying its neighbours – not least Taiwan.
And seeking to dominate the South China Sea.

While China is the most serious long-term challenge,
Russia is the most immediate one.
Putin has brought war back to Europe, on a scale not seen since the Second World War.
And is developing new strategic weapons to threaten the United States and its Allies.

His war is not just about controlling Ukraine.
It is about re-establishing Russia’s sphere of influence.
And shaping alternative world order.

Where U.S. power is diminished.
NATO is divided.
And smaller democracies are forced to kneel.

Other authoritarian regimes in Iran and North Korea are also expanding their aggressive behaviour.
Tehran is backing terrorists and militias that are attacking ships in the Red Sea.
And American military bases in the Middle East.
Just this week we saw the tragic consequences of the attack in Jordan.

Pyongyang continues to test missiles that could reach South Korea and Japan.
As well as the United States.

China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea are increasingly aligned.
Together, they subvert sanctions and pressure.
Weaken the US dollar-based international financial system.
Fuel Russian war in Europe.
And exploit challenges to our societies,
such as terrorism, disruptive technologies, or migration.

In these dangerous times, we must stand strong against any regime that seeks to undermine us.

Continued: https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/op...

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