EU should warn China of consequences for changing status quo: Ex-NATO head

Taipei, March 18 (CNA) The European Union should clearly communicate to China the consequences it would face if it attempted to alter the status quo in the Taiwan Strait by force, former NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Tuesday.

The EU "can play an important role" in deterring China from changing the status quo by force, Rasmussen, who served as head of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) from 2009-2014, said in an interview with CNA.

Rasmussen pointed to the strong trade relations between European countries and China, arguing that if the EU was to cut those ties, it would have "severe consequences for the Chinese economy."

"We should tell that in advance so that China does not miscalculate, but know exactly what [would] happen if [it tried] to change the status quo," said Rasmussen, who was visiting Taiwan to speak at the Yushan Forum hosted by the Taiwan-Asia Exchange Foundation, a government-funded think tank.

However, Rasmussen, who is currently chairman of the Alliance of Democracies Foundation, a non-profit organization he founded in 2017, emphasized that it remains crucial for Taiwan to demonstrate its resolve to defend itself.

Rasmussen said he appreciated President Lai Ching-te's (賴清德) pledge to raise Taiwan's annual defense budget to 3 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) given the constant threats Taiwan faces.

"It's for Taiwan to demonstrate to the world that [it is] serious about keeping the status quo" and "defending yourself against a possible attack," said Rasmussen, who served as Denmark's prime minister for seven years before taking charge of the western military alliance.

Rasmussen also urged NATO members to increase their defense budgets to 4 percent of GDP in light of threat from Russia, arguing that "investment in defense is today the most important investment [one] can make."

"Obviously we would rather spend money on schools, on hospitals, on childcare [and] all those things. But all those welfare benefits are worth zero if you are not able to protect and defend your society," he said.

Rasmussen acknowledged achieving such a goal would be "challenging," but he noted "we cannot count on an automatic help from the U.S."

His comments came a day after he warned against "rely[ing] on the White House" during his address at the Yushan Forum, amid the recent rift between the United States and the EU over Washington's shift in its position on Russia's invasion of Ukraine and tariff threats against the bloc.

According to NATO data, the 32 members of the military alliance have agreed to commit 2 percent of their GDP to defense spending since 2014, with 23 estimated to have achieved that goal by 2024.

In addition, the data showed that only Poland met the threshold Rasmussen called for, with defense spending reaching 4.12 percent of GDP in 2024, the highest among NATO members.