By Euronews with AP
Published on
The European Union’s top diplomat said on Saturday that the world should be “extremely worried” about Russia and China’s relationship as North Korean troops fight alongside Russian soldiers in Ukraine.
“When China and Russia speak of leading together, the change is not seen in 100 years and of revisions of the global security order. We should all be extremely worried,” Kallas said during the Shangri-La Dialogue, a global security conference in Singapore.
European and Asian security were “very much interlinked,” the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs said while speaking on a panel about ensuring global stability.
“Our security is very much interlinked and what we have to do for not the worst case scenario happening, is that we really need to defend the international law because that says it all,” she said, “That is the umbrella that actually protects, especially the smaller states.”
US warns of growing threat from China
Kallas spoke after US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth warned of increasing military and economic pressure coming from China.
In his speech at the conference, he reassured allies in the Indo-Pacific they would not be left alone; while insisting they contribute more to their own defence.
Hegseth said Washington would bolster overseas defences to counter what the US views as an increasing threat from China – particularly in its stance towards Taiwan.
China claims Taiwan as its own. Chinese President Xi Jinping hasn’t ruled out taking it by force. China regularly sends military aircraft and ships near Taiwan and currently has an aircraft carrier southeast of the island.
China’s army “is rehearsing for the real deal,” Hegseth said in his keynote speech. “We are not going to sugar-coat it — the threat China poses is real. And it could be imminent.”
He urged Indo-Pacific countries to increase defence spending to levels similar to the 5% of their gross domestic product European nations are now pressed to contribute.
The head of China’s delegation to the conference accused Hegseth of making “groundless accusations.”
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