NATO chief sounds alarm over China's ambition of taking Taiwan

Taipei, July 10 (CNA) NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte has issued a stark warning over China's military buildup and its ambitions toward Taiwan, calling the growing alignment between Beijing, Moscow and other authoritarian regimes a serious threat to global stability.

China is rapidly building up its armed forces, has more naval ships than the United States and 1,000 nuclear warheads, Rutte said during a joint news conference with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in Berlin on Wednesday.

Citing NATO intelligence, Rutte warned that China is increasingly preparing to pursue its ambition to take over Taiwan and would likely do so in coordination with Russia.

Rutte, who served as Dutch prime minister from 2010-2024, made a similar warning in a recent interview with the New York Times, saying Beijing could attempt to seize Taiwan while urging Moscow to launch a parallel attack on NATO territory.

This shows how increasingly interconnected the Transatlantic and the Indo-Pacific regions are, the NATO chief said in the German capital, while also pointing to North Korea's involvement and China's support for Russia's war in Ukraine.

His remarks came as NATO members agreed weeks ago to increase their annual defense spending to 5 percent of GDP by 2035 in response to "profound security threats and challenges," highlighting the threat posed by Russia t

o Euro-Atlantic security.

In response, Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a brief statement on Thursday that it welcomed the NATO chief's comments, adding that it would continue working with partners such as the G7 and NATO to contribute to peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific and Taiwan Strait.