This week, European leaders traveled to Asia with a key message: they must work more closely together to preserve the rules-based order from threats posed by China and Russia.
Kaja Kallas, the European Union’s chief diplomat, and French President Emmanuel Macron highlighted the link between Russia’s war against Ukraine and the deepening of Russia’s relations with China during a series of speeches in Southeast Asia recently.
“It is the greatest challenge of our time,” Kallas said Saturday at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, Asia’s premier forum for defense leaders, military officials, and diplomats, Bloomberg reportred.
“When China and Russia speak of leading together changes not seen in a hundred years and of revisions of the global security order, we should all be extremely worried,” she added.
Kaja Kallas accused China of supporting the Russian military machine, saying that 80% of dual-use goods used to fight Ukraine come from the world’s second-largest economy. She recalled that US Defense Secretary Pete Gagset had warned of the threat China poses to the rest of Asia and said that Russia should also be a major concern.
“If you’re worried about China, you should be worried about Russia,” Kallas stated.
Western officials accuse China of supplying Russia with critical technologies, including drones, while claiming that both countries are involved in cyberattacks, acts of sabotage, and dangerous activities related to infrastructure, such as deep-sea cables.
Kallas called on European and Asian partners to work together to combat secret shadow tanker fleets and review maritime security laws.
Emmanuel Macron warned China of a potential increase in NATO’s presence in Asia if it did not take additional measures to stop North Korea’s involvement in Russia’s war against Ukraine.
