Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, February 23 (Xinhua) -- The American "Politico" said on the 21st that the United States **Joseph Biden supports Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte as secretary general of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
A U.S. person asked an unnamed person to disclose the matter. Biden has not publicly expressed his support for Rutte. According to the report, Biden's support is expected to get more U.S. allies to recognize Rutte as NATO Secretary General.
On January 15, 2021, Dutch Prime Minister Rutte announced that his cabinet officially resigned on the same day due to the ongoing fermentation of the childcare allowance incident. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Zhang Cheng.
For months, European leaders have expressed interest in the position. Rutte recently disclosed during the Munich Security Conference that he had spoken about his intention to run for the post of NATO secretary general in October last year, which caused unnecessary uproar and therefore did not address the topic during the meeting.
The current NATO Secretary-General, Jens Stoltenberg, has extended his term twice since taking office in 2014, and the current term is set to end in October. "Politico" also broke the news earlier on the 21st that about two-thirds of NATO member states support Rutte to replace Stoltenberg.
The 75th anniversary summit will be held in Washington, D.C., in July. According to the report, there is pressure within NATO to approve Rutte's nomination before the summit. However, NATO's nomination for secretary general needs to be unanimously approved by all 31 member states, so Rutte may still need to enlist the support of some member states.
This is the scene of the NATO defense ministers' meeting in Brussels, Belgium, on February 15. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Zhao Dingzhe.
As a military alliance, one of NATO's main considerations remains defense spending. While the target of 2 percent of annual gross domestic product (GDP) for member states has been set for years, 18 countries, including the Netherlands, will not meet the target until this year.
The United States held elections in November, and the possibility of a comeback for former Donald Trump has alarmed Europe. Keith Kellogg, Trump's campaign adviser, told Reuters earlier this month that he intends to push through NATO reform after Trump's victory, and that members whose defense spending falls short of the protections afforded by NATO's collective defense clause. Kellogg said this means that NATO will gradually become a "tiered alliance."
According to Politico, if Rutte succeeds Stoltenberg and faces Trump, he may also have to take over what the latter has spent a lot of time and energy doing in the past few years: maintaining policy stability in the United States. (Ocean).