April 8 (UPI) — NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte warned of China’s military expansion while aiming to improve economic ties with Japan during a two-day visit on Tuesday and Wednesday.
China’s emphasis on military development, support of Russia and ties to Iran and North Korea make China a serious concern, Rutte said while meeting with Japanese Defense Minister Gen Nakatani on Tuesday at the Yokosuka Naval Base.
“China is building up its armed forces, including its navy, at a rapid pace,” Rutte told media in Yokosuka. “We cannot be naïve, and we really have to work together [and] assess what is happening.”
Japanese officials view China as a threat to regional peace and recently increased Japan’s military growth, including the future deployment of long-range cruise missiles capable of defensive strikes against aggressor nations.
During his meeting with Nakatani earlier Tuesday, Rutte said NATO and Japan share common concerns as China, North Korea and Russia increase their mutual military cooperation while undermining global stability.
“We know that they help and support the Russians’ warfare through war effort, through sanction circumvention [and] through the delivery of dual-use goods,” Rutte told media.
“So they are an integral part of the war effort,” he said. “Now North Korea is sending its soldiers to Europe to fight a war.”
Rutte said Russia is repaying North Korea with technology, as well as money, which poses a threat to the “whole of NATO territory and to the Indo-Pacific” as well as the United States.
Rutte also is scheduled to meet with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Yoji Muto, members of Japan’s Diet and Japanese industry representatives on Wednesday.
The visit to Japan comes after China’s People’s Liberation Army recently conducted large military drills near Taiwan, which China has declared as its sovereign territory and seeks to annex.
Officials in the United States, the United Kingdom and other G7 nations condemned China’s actions.
“Beijing’s behavior threatens world peace and global economic stability,” Luke De Pulford of the U.K. Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China told the Daily Mail.
“The democratic world isn’t even close to meaningful deterrence,” De Pulford said. “The U.K. is further behind than most.”
Rutte is visiting Japan after meeting with President Donald Trump at the White House in March.
Rutte and Trump discussed the war in Ukraine and Trump’s demands that NATO member states contribute funding equal to at least 5% of their respective gross domestic products to support NATO.