DAVOS, January 15. /TASS/. NATO won’t expand to Asia but has to react to what is happening in that region, Jens Stoltenberg, the alliance’s secretary general, said at the World Economic Forum in Davos.
"NATO is a transatlantic alliance, Europe and North America. And we will remain a regional alliance. But the transatlantic region faces global threats. Security is no longer regional; security is global. So what happens in Asia matters for Europe and what happens in Europe matters for Asia," he said. "We also have to understand that this is not about NATO moving into Asia, but instead about the fact that China is coming close to us."
According to Stoltenberg, while NATO doesn’t see China as an adversary, it has to adapt to the country's "heavy investments in modern military capabilities, including more advanced nuclear weapons, China's way of behavior especially in the South China Sea, and the way China is actually violating core principles for NATO: democracy, the rule of law, journalism, freedom of expression."
The World Economic Forum is a Swiss non-governmental organization that holds annual conferences to discuss pressing issues related to politics, economy and society.
The 54th such conference is taking place in Davos from January 15 to 19, with the key theme being Rebuilding Trust. It has brought together 2,800 participants from more than 120 countries, including business executives, political leaders and experts. Russia is not represented in Davos this year as, similar to 2023, the organizers did not send it an invitation.