BRUSSELS, Belgium
US military funding for Ukraine carries a key deterrent message for China, Nato chief Jens Stoltenberg argued on Sunday at the start of a Washington visit aimed at lobbying Congress to continue funding the war against Russia.
After billions in US aid have
been sent to Ukraine since the invasion
nearly two years ago, many Republican lawmakers have grown reluctant to
keep supporting Kyiv, saying it lacks a clear end game as the fighting against
Russian President Vladimir
Putin’s forces grinds on.
US President Joe
Biden has asked Congress to approve US$61 billion in new aid to
Ukraine. But the talks have bogged down as Republican lawmakers – furious over
record illegal flows over the US border with Mexico – demand major changes in
US immigration and border control policy in exchange for approving more money
for Ukraine.
Stoltenberg plans to make the
case in Washington this week for continued aid to Ukraine.
“What matters is that Ukraine
gets continued support, because we need to realise that this is closely watched
in Beijing,” Stoltenberg said on Fox News.
Analysts say Beijing, which
sees Taiwan as part of China to be reunited by force if necessary, is watching
to see if once-strong Western support for Ukraine is now petering out.
If Ukraine were abandoned by
the US and its allies, mainland China might be tempted to take military action
to seize control of Taiwan,
these analysts warn.
“So it’s not only making
Europe more vulnerable, but all of us, also the United
States, more vulnerable, if Putin gets what he wants in Ukraine,”
Stoltenberg added.
He said the agreement being
negotiated in the US Congress is “a good deal”. US aid to Ukraine, Stoltenberg
said, has been just a fraction of the Pentagon budget, and yet “we have been
able to destroy and degrade the Russian army substantially”.
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