China and NATO have good mutual understanding

World
Europe

01:14

China and NATO have lines of communication open and good mutual understanding, said NATO Deputy Secretary General Rose Gottemoeller in an interview on CGTN's program World Insight, during her trip in Beijing for the Xiangshan Forum.

“We have already seen some examples of NATO and China working well together. For example during the height of fighting against piracy of the coast of Somalia, NATO and China were working in close proximity in the maritime sphere. We have some successful joint efforts in that context. So we already have some good experience to build on. I think the maritime sphere is an important one,” Gottemoeller said.

But the two also face many common challenges, “challenges such as terrorism, for example, and challenges related to new technology.”

“China is really developing its global reach increasingly. NATO, of course, is the North Atlantic Treaty Organization so we have a Euro-Atlantic focus. But we are going to increasingly be operating in the same regions of the world and so it is good we have lines of communication open. We need good mutual understanding.”

Meanwhile, the US has been playing an important role in NATO. However, with Donald Trump as US president, the relationship between the US and other NATO members has been thrown into the limelight. Trump has frequently criticized fellow NATO members' defense spending.

01:18

Talking about Europe's commitment to NATO and to its relationship with the US, Gottemoeller said “we are 29 members all of whom have equal votes at the table. Any big decision that is made at NATO has to be made by consensus. Sometimes people say the US dominated the decisions, well, in fact, every decision has to be made by consensus.”

World Insight with Tian Wei is a 45-minute global affairs and debate show on CGTN. It airs weekdays at 10:15 p.m. BJT (1415GMT), with rebroadcasts at 4:15 a.m. BJT (2015GMT).

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